Hyrule The Future Mix
by Mach2K
Summary: AU/ When Link falls through a wormhole, he comes out the other side on a Hyrule filled with cars, skyscrapers, and the underground party scene... Rated for language, drug use, and sexual themes.
1. The Drop

"Quick, your majesty, into this cave!"

The guards ushered Zelda into the dark tunnel, two of them staying at the entrance to guard it, and the rest running back to the carriage to protect it and chase after the dangerous creature that had slammed into its side, necessitating the evacuation of the queen in the first place. Near all of Hyrule had been on edge for months, after rumors that the queen had recently had a prophetic dream of Ganondorf's return. Though Zelda sent down many decrees that it had not been so, the people were still on edge, especially her guards. Because Zelda had, in fact, had a nightmare about his return, and the royal guard had immediately ramped up their defensive strategies.

Now, though, the small cluster of guards that had been surrounding her carriage as they trundled through the woods went back to her carriage and investigated. There were huge, cloven-hoof tracks in the soft muddy ground, and a select team of five followed it to a huge but harmless brown boar, which they quickly executed with their swords before returning to the cave.

"Nothing but a harmless brown boar, your majest—" the guard was cut off by the panicked expressions on the faces of those who watched the cave entrance.

"We heard her scream, sir, but when we went to investigate we couldn't find her," one rambled quickly.

The lead guard cursed and charged into the cave himself, stumbling about idiotically in the quick darkness. "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" he cried. He nearly bashed his face open at the end of the cave, and to his alarm, there was no queen. He exited the cavern, shaken and worried.

"We shall return to the castle. Act as if all is ordinary. You swear she did not leave this cave?" He wheeled on the guards.

"Yes sir, she did not leave."

"Did you hear any sound from her?"

"No sir, not a one."

The lead guard frowned. "This may be part of his sorcery… we should get an expert in these matters."

Link stared into the cavern, the guards standing nervously behind him. It was mere hours after the queen's disappearance. He stared in silence a while, before straightening and striding into the cavern.

"Sir! Are you sure that's a wise course of action?"

Link turned back and shrugged. "There may be something you have… overlooked." He turned back towards the cavern entrance and produced a lantern, lighting it efficiently and holding it ahead of him as he walked in.

It was a very smooth cave, and the walls were dry; the floor was equally as smooth. Not even moss or animal leavings littered the ground, it was as if it had arisen from the earth simply to swallow the queen and dissolve again. Link got near to the end of the cave when he suddenly plummeted down into darkness.

He woke slowly, laying on cold hard ground. It was night time, and a breeze, hot and acrid-smelling, was ruffling his hair. He could hear whistling, screaming wind and strange shrieks, like instruments being blown all wrong. Slowly, Link opened his eyes, staring up at a sky that was cloudy and orange. _Fire,_ was his first thought.

He sat up, and the world slowly settled in at a gentle spin around him, and his thoughts which had been trying to collect themselves scattered again.

Instead of the dirt floor of the cavern, instead of the hectic Castle Market, he was on a narrow stone path next to an even wider path, paved near black, with huge metallic monstrosities screaming along, lights shining on either end and—good goddesses there were people inside?

Link pushed himself up slowly, looking around at the brick buildings, then upwards; they towered taller than even the trees in the Lost Woods, brick and glass all the way up. Had Ganon put some sort of magic in that cavern to trap him in a nightmare world? What the hell was this place?

He got to his feet, finally, and approached the main road, looking back and forth. The blocky objects on the road had wheels, and they reminded him strongly of a failed horseless carriage prototype he had seen on display at a faire one year. Link picked the direction the carriages were going and started walking. Lanterns that changed colors blinked at the intersection he reached, and he crossed quickly, looking around and feeling helplessly confused, trying to get his bearings. He felt for his sword, and it calmed him to know it was still there.

"It's not Hallow's Eve!" someone shouted from one of the speeding carriages, laughing. Link whipped around in confusion, narrowing his eyes. Well of course it wasn't Hallow's Eve. His nerves tensed and he felt as if cold fingers were wriggling up his spine; this was a strange place.

He turned a corner, passing a large building that was all metal and glass, pausing when he read the name over the double doors: Hyrule First National Bank.

He looked down the long stretch of road at the zipping lights of the horseless carriages, at the strange mutation of the country he called home.

Link stepped back and cautiously leaned against the building he was near, trying to gather his thoughts. He could survive this, he just had to find Zelda and get them back out. He tried to think where she would have gone, where she would have wandered. But he had no clues. He wished he at least had Epona here; a way to travel faster.

Link continued walking, keeping an eye on the buildings. He encountered almost nobody on the path. If Zelda had fallen into this same world, where would she be? Where would she have gone? Somewhere lit, inside, where she could get her bearings.

He went into the first well-lit place he could. It turned out to be a restaurant, with soft music playing and the quiet murmur of people. The host at the podium looked up and stared at Link wide-eyed, quickly leaving his station behind the podium. "Sir, is there a problem?"

Link felt relieved, for the moment. "I am looking for a woman, she would have come in some time ago—"

As people walked by him into the restaurant, they stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, of course, a woman," the host replied, nodding cautiously. "Does this woman have a name?"

Link hesitated. Obviously this man thought he was mad. Link tried it anyway. "Her name is Zelda. She has long blond hair, and—"

"Yes, yes, of course, sir. If you will just come with me to the management office?" The host gestured over a waiter refilling water, whispering quickly to him, then gesturing for Link to follow. They headed to the back of the restaurant, near the kitchen, and into a small, brightly lit room. The overhead light buzzed, and the manager, a sweaty red-faced man with a thick mustache, stared at Link.

"Sir, this… young man has lost his chaperone," the host explained wrongly. "I think he is mentally disturbed," he added in a not-so-soft whisper.

Link stood up furiously, grabbing his sword. "What was that?"

The manager stood up hastily. "Now now, we don't want any trouble. Just sit down and we'll call the home for you. Which one is it?"

Link turned to the door, the host standing in front of it. "Let me out, now," he growled. The host hesitated, staring at Link, his eyes widening as the point of Link's sword swung up to barely touch the end of his nose.

"Now."

The manager nodded and gestured feverishly, and the host stood to one side, rapidly unlocking the door. Even as he left, Link could hear the manager talking.

"Yes, police? There's a man with a sword in our restaurant. He's already threatened one of my employees and I fear…"

Link rushed out now, his sword in one hand. People started screaming as he went by the restaurant's main dining room and back out the front door. Link looked around desperately, picked a direction, and started walking. Faintly, he could hear the scream of sirens. He didn't get far before flashing blue and red lights assaulted his vision, and one of the screaming metal monstrosities pulled up to him.

"Get down on the ground!" screamed a man, climbing out of the vehicle. "Hands on your head!"

Link hesitated in a crouch, staring at the man. "I'm not the enemy!" he shouted back.

"Get down or I shoot!" the officer shouted again. Slowly, Link lowered to the hard ground, gritting his teeth. Best if he avoid making waves as much as possible at this point.

They took him to a building, his hands latched together with metal cuffs behind his back. His sword was confiscated, as was his belt. They felt into every small pouch of the belt, finding nothing. As they labeled and bagged his items, they interrogated him at a desk, filling out forms.

"Your name?"

"Link of Hyrule."

"Your last name?"

Link simply stared. The cop sighed and continued writing.

"Date of birth?"

Link gave it, and the cop paused and stared at him. "Sir. You realize that such a birthdate would make you over 400 years old?"

Link frowned. "What?"

The cop leaned back in his chair. "I suppose a slip of the tongue, right?"

Reluctantly, Link nodded. "I apologize," he added, after a moment.

"Your occupation?"

"S… swordsman."

This time, the cop threw down his pen and glowered at Link. "Are you fucking with me? It'll go a lot easier for you if you stop." He took up his pen again. "Occupation."

Link hesitated. He didn't want to be crazy, but he wanted the guard, or whatever this man was, to believe him.

"Guard," he answered quickly.

"Okay." The cop muttered darkly to himself as he kept writing. "Any previous arrests against you?"

Link frowned. "N… no."

"Next of kin."

Link hesitated. He could tell that this futuristic guard was growing weary of his attitude, and who knew what response could draw ire? Wincing, he took a leap of faith.

"Zelda, the princess."

"Zelda," the cop replied. "The mayor's daughter. Single. Daughter." He tapped the end of his pen on the desk. Link ran his fingers through his hair. Who else could he say? Who could he say? At least now he knew there was a possibility the people he knew existed here as well.

"Saria."

"Saria…?"

_Greenleaf_, whispered a voice in Link's mind. He knew the urges of Farore when he felt them.

"Saria Greenleaf."

"Aaalright. See, if you participate like this, maybe we can get through this a little faster, alright?" The cop sighed. "Take him to get his headshots, please," he called out. Two other cops grabbed Link by the arms and hauled him to another, small room, taking his pictures and noting his measurements.

Link was thrown quickly into a cell, his hat removed and his tunic hanging to his knees. The other men in the holding cell stared at him, at his odd clothes, but said nothing. Most of them looked as if they just needed to sleep off their afflictions. One man had a bandaged head wound and ugly purple bruising around his face. Link rubbed his hands together, frowning, and could only hope that he would be able to find his way back. Already, he was looking rapidly around, trying to figure a way out. The window was too small to wiggle through, and barred over. The cell bars were a massive grid, both vertical and horizontal bars intersecting.

"You can keep trying, man, but they build these things a little solidly," piped up one of the drunks.

"And what's with the dress?" another added snarkily. "You going to a dance?"

"Let me alone," Link snarled in return, waving them off.

"The fuck did you just say to me?" a third man said, standing up and wavering in his place.

"I said, let me off," Link responded. He looked around; he could see there was no way to simply have these men off his back without some bloodshed. He admitted he was glad he had none of his weapons.

The hulking drunk stumbled towards Link, baring his teeth. Link cracked his knuckles and waited. The drunk swung his fist, and Link dodged easily, pushing the man over into the cell bars. He groaned and pushed himself back to his feet, lunging after Link.

"Hold still, you fuck!"

Link was shoved towards him from behind, the other drunks laughing. The drunk managed to get him, punching Link in the gut. Link was nearly bowled over by the force of it. He coughed once, and shoved the man back. He rocked back, wobbling, and Link pushed him again, hoping to knock him off balance and get the man off his feet. It didn't quite work, but it didn't have to. Two cops were running to the cell doors, shouting. Link turned around and lifted his hands on instinct, but the drunk was down on the ground, snoring.

The cops groaned in disgust. "It's just Mutoh starting shit like usual. Is anyone hurt?"

"He punched the dresswearer pretty good," piped up a bone-thin, pale man hunched in the corner.

"I'm alright," Link said quickly. "Really." He moved slowly backward, sitting back down. Mutoh stayed on the ground, snoring.

In the morning, Link was pulled out of the cell and shuffled down a long corridor, where he was let into a huge room. There were… pews separated from one half of the room behind a gate, and the half he was in, there was a towering desk behind which a stern man sat in long black robes.

"Case number 75032289, Sakon's Restaurant versus Link Nobel," announced an officer standing just to the left of the judge on the main floor.

Link was stood next to a frowning man with a grand white beard and long eyebrows; he looked towards Link and nodded once.

"Mr. Gaebora, do you waive the reading of the formal charges against your client today?" the officer continued.

"Yes, I –

"No!" Link shouted. "I've no idea what I'm being accused of!"

The judge banged his gavel once, sharply. "Mr. Nobel, are you saying that you were not read your rights during your arrest?"

Link hesitated. "I was, Your Honor, but I do not understand the charges."

"Well that is why we are here today," the judge replied. "Can we continue, Mr. Gaebora?"

"Your Honor, I agree with my client and think it would be best he was read his charges," Gaebora answered, wiping his glasses.

"The accused is being charged with aggravated assault against another human being. He ran into a crowded restaurant and threatened several customers as well as staff with a deadly weapon. I see this is your first offense, Mr. Nobel, how do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Link answered, holding up his chin.

The judge nodded once and continued. "Does the prosecutor have notices for the court?"

"None, Your Honor."

Link felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and he turned his head. The prosecuting attorney shuffled some papers around on the table before him, his attention elsewhere. This gave Link a few precious seconds to take in his olive complexion and bright red hair. He was wrapped in a modern-day suit, but the man was the same. Ganondorf.

"Very well." The judge shifted his weight. "What do the people want for bail?"

Ganondorf straightened. "The people find bail should be set at $2500. Mr. Nobel clearly was capable of doing some harm with his weapon, and it is only through his inability to pick a target that no one was hurt. I was also informed he started a fight in his cell the night previous."

The judge turned to Link. "Is this true, Mr. Nobel?"

Reluctantly, Link nodded.

"And you, Gaebora?"

"Your Honor, I find that this was a first offense, and that many of the events were misconstrued. The fight in the cells, I have it on good authority and from watching video footage that my client acted purely in self-defense. From the last night previous when the event took place, I heard he also seemed disoriented, and unsure of where he was, and that he surrendered quickly to the cops. I believe that the events of last night could have been little more than a reaction to an undiagnosed blood sugar condition, and request that there be no bail, and in fact be released to return on his scheduled court date."

The judge sighed and lifted his gavel. "Very well. In light of a first offense, but a rather serious one, bail is set at $250, and Mr. Nobel, you would do well to return for your court date for a preliminary hearing, which will be in one month, on the 18th of Augiste. A time will be determined and you will receive a reminder notice in the mail later this week."

And with that, Link was returned to the cells to wait.

After a few hours, a cop again approached the cell. Link opened his eyes when he heard the echoey steps; he'd only been dozing, wary of this place and these strange people.

"Link? Link Nobel?"

Link hurriedly stood up, approaching the cell doors. The cop held up one hand to stop him.

"You've had bail posted."

Link suddenly noticed the petite brunette standing near the cop, her green eyes worried and her arms folded. She smiled weakly at him, her lip trembling. "Hey, Link."

"Hello, Saria."

Link followed Saria (but wasn't she a little tall and looking a little older than he remembered?) out of the station, and to the street where one of those metal creations was waiting, steam pluming softly from one end and the engine growling. He hesitated at one side while she went to the other, fiddling with the door. The machine clicked softly.

"Get in," Saria called to him over the sound of the roaring vehicles. "It's unlocked."

Link fumbled with the door, finding the little handle latch and climbing in. By its general condition on the outside and the interior, it was a little old.

"Yes, I still have the Green Machine," Saria said, grinning and nudging him with her elbow. "Come on, like I can afford a new car on my income?"

Carr, so that's what they called these things. Link nodded and offered Saria an uncomfortable smile. She looked normal but not. The hair color mostly, and that she looked… aged. He clenched and unclenched his hands, looking out the windshield in curiosity and not a little apprehension as she pulled the car smoothly into the wailing traffic.

"So why were you all dressed up, anyway?"

Link looked over at Saria, then he realized what she was wearing; a dark green jacket over a lighter green tunic shirt, and dark laymen's pants. How could he have ever recognized her?

"What?"

Saria glanced back to the road, then back to him, and back to the road again. "You look like some sort of medieval knight or something. Costume party?"

Link took a deep breath. "Saria, you sound and act like the girl I know, but you aren't her. I've been trying to find Zelda, the queen, and I fell through a… like a hole…"

"Oh, Link!" Saria shouted angrily. "Are you tripping? No wonder you were flipping out in a restaurant! And with a sword? I thought you knew better than to carry around weapons when you went on!"

Link stared. She was using phrases he didn't understand the context of. "Saria, look, I'm not the Link you know. I came here from somewhere else!"

"Look, we know you moved to Termina, and maybe you changed, but I didn't think it was this bad!" she retorted. "And when did you plan on telling me you were visiting? Or was bailing you out of jail at two in the morning a creative way of saying hello?"

"Saria, I came back from Termina years ago! I didn't stay!"

"Yes you did! You got a new job and everything!"

"Saria, I swear on the three goddesses that I am not this other Link. I came from Hyrule, old Hyrule. I need your help."

They slowed down at a red light, and Saria really looked at him. Link set his jaw, staring into her eyes, willing her to believe him. She frowned, and her eyes softened.

"You're telling the truth? You really think you came from another plane of existence or something?"

"Yes, I absolutely do."

Saria clamped her hands around the wheel, the faux leather creaking under her fingers. She chewed at her lower lip as the light turned green, and they puttered through it.

They stayed silent as the buildings around them turned into aged and slightly crumbly apartments, until Saria pulled into the lot of one, parking. They climbed out, she locked her car and Link followed her inside as she unlocked a door, leading them to a hall and a stairwell full of other doors. They went up three flights of the stairs, unlocking the one labeled 6C. Saria locked the door after Link and he took a look around; the room was small, and a little hallway led him to a toilet room (he presumed, and he marveled at the technology in that) and a bedroom. Back in the main space was a small window, the sill cluttered with potted plants.

Saria tossed her set of keys down on a little table stacked with papers and books. Looking at the titles, Link could see that most of them were about plant life and advanced scientific research, far too advanced for old Hyrule, from what he could tell.

"You hungry?" Saria called from the kitchen. He could see her opening another door, a white one cluttered with notepads and little carved figures that held to it like magic.

"Ah, maybe just some milk, please," Link called, removing his sheath and cautiously exploring the apartment, sitting down on the couch. Saria reappeared with a glass of milk for him and some water for herself, sitting down next to him.

"So," she started, "who are you? If you're not the Link I know."

"I'm a different Link, I guess," he started, taking a small sip. The milk was cold and refreshing, but tasted flat and watery. He frowned and looked at it.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you hate skim. Or rather, I guess I couldn't have known," Saria said, shrugging. "So, different Link, how did you get here, if you didn't drive or fly?"

"The queen Zelda was lost in a cave in the Deep Woods near Hyrule Castle—"

Saria held up one hand. "The queen? Queen Zelda? I mean I guess it fits as she's studying law, but…"

Link cleared his throat. "Can I finish?"

"Yes, of course, I'm sorry." Saria took a small sip of water. "Just a lot to take in, you know?"

Link rubbed his hands together. "Anyway, she had gotten lost in a cave in the Deep Woods, and when I went in to find her, I… fell, and woke up out on the road near the restaurant."

Saria chewed on her nails. "This sounds like some sort of existential thing, like a ripple in space and time or something. You'd have to talk to Professor Rauru about this, I'm sure he'd be fascinated… as long as he didn't think you were crazy."

"Professor…?" The equivalent of a sage in his world? "Are you one of these professors?"

Saria laughed. "I'm flattered but no, I'm still working on my Masters. I've done a little student teaching, but not much."

Link nodded. "In my world, you're a Sage. That must be similar to a professor. Rauru was one as well."

Saria tilted her head, surprised and a little flattered. "Really? So, you know a lot of the people that I know?"

Link shrugged. "Some variety of them, I guess."

Saria leaned back and rubbed her eyes. "I feel like I should be high to really understand this conversation." She sighed. "Well, it's late, and I have class early tomorrow. If you want, I can leave my apartment key under the door, and you can explore the city and maybe see if you can find your Zelda."

"I would really appreciate that, Saria."

She smiled at him warmly, and he felt some comfort that she was almost exactly the Saria he'd grown up with.

"Come on, let's get some blankets for the couch."


	2. AcidHouse

Link woke up the next morning completely disoriented. He'd been hoping that it was some sort of hallucination, or a dream. But when he sat up and looked around the cramped apartment, he knew it had really happened. Link rubbed his eyes, frowning, and went to the kitchen area for food. He looked around curiously at the small but unfamiliar bits of equipment, realizing after a few minutes of study that these newest of strange mechanica were a woodless oven, and a massive ice box. He was surprised to find the milk was kept in a container that was clear like glass, but flexible like thin wood. He entertained himself with this for several minutes before finally pouring himself a glass and having some bread with honey(found in a cupboard, a very thin and translucent kind of honey) for breakfast.

To his surprise, on the floor near Saria's apartment key was a little envelope. Inside were several furry-feeling bills in different colors.

_Figured if you are who you say you are, you probably need some modern cash, right? Maybe buy yourself some normal clothes._

Alongside the money was a carefully folded map. Link went to his toolbelt and put both items inside, pausing when they did not vanish into the magical 'holes' that his belts retained.

All of his weapons beside his sword were gone.

Link checked every one carefully, but each yielded the same result; they would go into the pouch, but no further than its dimensions actually held.

He sighed and made sure the pouches were secure, picked up Saria's apartment key, and went on his way, leaving his sword behind. It made him nervous, but he could not risk another scene.

So he went out, and explored the town.

The sheer height of the buildings kept pulling his eyes upward, so he did not see most of the weird looks he got on the street as the people flowed around him. Now and again he stopped, rechecking his map; Saria had neatly dotted on the map for him where clothing stores were, as well as her apartment.

When he got back to the main city area, he had to stop and look it over. There was something comforting about it; some sort of structure to the buildings. It hit him that the layout was a greatly expanded version of the castle market. As he walked by the buildings, looking them over, he could confirm this was so; there was a confectionary where the sweets baker would be, a … very loud 'game' shop where the toy shop would have been, and it did not take him long to find a clothing store that looked as if it would have something more sensible for him to wear. So, he went inside.

It was brightly lit, and the clothes were neatly arranged; one side with clearly womens' clothing—skirts and flowy tops. He turned, seeing the men's section on the other side, and started rifling through them.

"Can I help you?" asked one of the employees, walking up to him with her hands folded and a smile on her face. She looked Link's current attire over a few times, and resolutely looked back to his face. "Must be laundry day?"

Link looked back to the rack of clothes and grabbed several green shirts. "I think I've got it."

She nodded and walked back to the counter, and Link focused instead on the pants. How was he supposed to figure out the fit of these things? He grabbed a few pairs of those as well, and went up to the counter. The employees immediately turned away from each other and toward him with wide, false smiles.

"Did you want to try those on?" the girl from earlier asked.

"Yes, please." Link was relieved at the suggestion. He followed her to the back, and shut himself in one of the tiny changing closets. Inside was a mirror, and he stared at himself for several minutes, trying to confirm that he was still himself. His original clothes were filthy; something he hadn't realized until now. No wonder they'd stared at him as if he were odd. He quickly changed, and to his relief he found the second pair of pants fit well. Link studied himself again, surprised at the change. He looked a little different now, in a subtle way. He still needed a wash, but now he appeared… revolutionary? he supposed. It was like meeting dignitaries from another country and noting the strangeness of their clothes and customs, only he was the one adapting them.

Link changed into his dirty clothes and went back to the counter, where the girl and her coworker, a boy, turned and nodded to him.

"All set?" the girl asked as she reached for the clothes.

"Can I… wear these out?" he asked as he handed them over.

"Sure, once they're paid up and we take off the security tags, you can change," the girl replied with an easy smile.

The bell over the door rang, and Link turned out of habitual curiosity. A girl with wild curly hair walked in, followed by a burly man in an impeccable suit. She wore a flowy, deep blue top over tiny shorts and strappy wedge sandals that laced delicately around her ankles.

Link was handed back the clothes with a shopping bag for his current attire, and as he turned to go back to the changing room, the girl shouted, "Link!"

He stopped and turned, looking at her again. Who was she this time?

She ran over to him and hugged him around the neck, but only for a second; she quickly stepped away. "Oh my goddesses, Link. Did you spend all night out partying again?" She laughed and slapped him on the shoulder.

In that split second of contact, her left hand on his left arm, he saw her as if through a veil or screen; her blue, mottled fish skin and dark, wide eyes.

"Ruto!" he shouted in surprise, making the connection. She laughed again.

"So what, were you at some sort of Medieval rave or something?" Ruto asked, gesturing to his clothes.

Rave? "Something like that," he replied slowly. "I actually was going to change into something… better."

"Oh honey, wait until you at least shower first," she replied, shaking her head. She linked arms with him and pulled him towards the door. "So when did you get in town? Where are you staying? Why didn't you call me?" she asked as they stalked out.

"I just… dropped in the other night. Staying at Saria's. It was to be… a surprise?"

"Ohhh," Ruto replied, winking. "You thought I'd tell Zelda? Come on, I can keep a secret. So Saria's, hm? I'll drive you that way and you can change."

She pulled him to a huge, gleaming black car in front of the store, and they climbed into the back, along with the hulking man that followed her; a knight, Link assumed.

Ruto took a swig from a water bottle, sighing. "It's so hot out today, I'm dying of thirst all the time." She handed him a bottle as well from a compartment filled with ice.

Link looked out the window at the massive buildings, then back to Ruto.

"So," she started, with a shrug, "what are you and Saria up to tonight?"

Link shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I don't know when she comes back or anything."

Ruto smiled at him. "I would probably assume about six or so; that's usually when her office closes. You guys should totally come out tonight; I'm supposed to go with Zelda to House of Skulltula tonight, they have a new DJ spinning."

Link nodded slowly. Zelda and Ruto would never have gone to the house he knew of by that name. But if it meant he could find Zelda, if she even was the Zelda he was looking for—

Cold washed over him unexpectedly. What if he hadn't ended up in the same 'place' as their queen? What if she was in an entirely different universe from this one?

"And that way, maybe you could reconcile with Zelda."

Link paused and slowly lowered his water bottle. "Hm?"

Ruto was staring at him with hard eyes now. "She came back six months ago and had a nervous breakdown. What did you do to her?"

Link shook his head. "I don't even know what you're talking about."

Ruto threw the cap from her empty water bottle at him. "Yes you do! You broke up with her! You really broke her heart!"

Link shook his head again. "We… It was nothing like that. Trust me."

"So if you guys meet tonight, there won't be some sort of huge dramatic blowup, right?" Ruto leaned back, her arms folded.

"No."

Ruto sighed and looked out the window at the passing buildings. They pulled up to Saria's building, and she followed him up to the apartment, looking out the window and studying Saria's plants.

When Link emerged, she smiled briefly at him, but looked his hair over. "It's gotten really long."

Link shrugged. "Has it?"

Ruto nodded. "I shouldn't be surprised. You guys moved away a couple years ago." She looked at him again, closer. "Right?"

Link tried to smile. "Yeah, of course."

Ruto turned away slowly, heading back to the door. "Let's go to lunch."

And so, they went.

They got home not long before Saria, who smiled at Ruto in surprise when she saw her. They hugged briefly and Saria went to her tiny kitchen to make something to eat.

"We should order sushi," Ruto called from the living room. She'd turned on the Teevee, and Link couldn't help himself but be fascinated as he watched and learned how this modern town worked.

Saria snorted. "You know I can't afford that, and I'm vegan anyway."

Ruto shrugged. "They make veggie rolls, you know." She stretched out her legs. "Are you coming out tonight?"

Saria reappeared from around the wall separating them, holding a cup of iced tea. "What's going on?"

"House of Skulltula?"

Saria wrinkled her nose. "They only play dark wave, I'm not a fan."

Ruto groaned. "You gotta try something different once in a while."

Saria turned to her unexpected guest. "What about you, Link? You haven't been back in town for too long—

"And already gotten in trouble." Ruto ruffled her hair. "He told me that the police were climbing all over his ass. I told him that I could talk to Dad about it, maybe he could cut a deal."

Link shrugged his shoulders. "I… I can follow along with the plans you already had, really."

Ruto's face brightened, and Saria sighed, knowing she was overruled simply by Ruto's stubborn nature. "It's settled then; Skulltula is ours, tonight."

Ruto and Saria napped away the last of the day, while Link sat up. He made a plate of cheese, bread, and grabbed a beer before settling in by the window to watch the sunset and think. Would this Zelda be the one that knew him? Or would she be like the other girls he had met here, and mistake him for some other version of himself?

Link finished his beer and food, and put the dishes away. On a whim, he again checked his waistbelt, but nothing. The pouches were resolutely empty.

As a wandering warrior, Link had endured some loud moments. A thunderstorm breaking overhead out of nowhere in the middle of the night, the booming sounds of Goron drums, Bongo Bongo's own hellish device, and the pounding of Ganon's paws on cracked cobblestone.

The noise he encountered now, was on a slightly different level.

It was loud, and clashing, and vibrated inside his bones. The club was full of foul smoke and the smell of stale alcohol, sweat, and even a little of blood. People were packed together in tight clusters, and the tiny skirts on some of the women, that only inched higher as they wrapped their legs around their dance partners.

Link rubbed his eyes, unsure if it was the smoke, the stale air, or the constant hum in his head, like a dull ache. It was not his Goddess' presence, it was something different, something more familiar and yet strange.

Ruto shouted something, he caught the words 'drink' and 'bar' and watched her slip into the crowd like smoke. He turned hopefully to Saria, who was staying close, and wearing a bright green bob wig that oddly, comforted him. She'd worn it before he left, at the Ikana Carnival during Hallow's Eve—

Link shook his head and rubbed his eyes again; and the unfamiliar memory faded.

"HEEEEY!" came a voice that rose above the noise, and Link turned and was caught in the middle of a powerful hug. A Goron style hug. He gasped for air but was a second too late; thankfully, the hug was only a second longer.

"I THOUGHT YOU GUYS HATED DARK WAVE!" the hulking man shouted, adjusting his shirt. Link looked at him in bewilderment, and the humming in his head abated just a bit as he made the connection—

"Denno!" Link cried out. Darunia's kid, of course! It should have been more obvious to him, really.

He hugged Saria too, but a little gentler than he had hugged Link. Ruto reappeared near them through the throng, holding a bottle of water and keeping her other hand in a tight fist.

"LET'S FIND SOMEWHERE TO SIT!" she shouted, hugging Denno.

There was a clear advantage to his size; the people parted around him without so much as a thought, and the little band of partiers followed behind him in a cluster. Link kept Saria between himself and Ruto, worried she would get swallowed up by the people if he didn't.

They did, miraculously, manage to find a wide booth in the back of the club. Ruto remained standing as they settled in, and she opened her hand, revealing a small bag with several small, multicolored pills inside. She took one and offered the bag to Denno, who took and passed down. Saria hesitated, but, cautiously, Link partook. Engraved on the pill was the Triforce.

Ruto took hers and took a swig of water, and passed around the water bottle.

"I'M GOING TO FIND ZELDA," she shouted, gesturing towards the throng. Denno nodded and settled back into his seat. Link swigged cautiously at the water, and in a fit of hindsight, he wondered if it was so wise a choice to take something without asking what it was.

After a while, the world seemed to smear left and right, but Link felt as if he were drifting up and down. He realized quite suddenly that he was grinding his teeth and had made little tears in the upholstery of the chair. Denno was gone, lost in the fog of screaming lights, as were Saria and Ruto. When Link looked around, his head twinged more powerfully than ever, and he stared at Zelda.

She sat, casually sipping a bottle of water, but he could tell by the minute movements of her hands and jaw that she was suffering the same effects as he. Her eyes were dilated in the dark light and from the drug, and they were circled with dark, ashy makeup. There was a vibrancy under her skin; a dim gold glowing, like shining a light through vellum.

Link looked down at his hands, and realized he had the same effect, but it was far brighter. He forced himself to exhale, realizing he was holding his breath.

When he looked up again, Zelda was looking at him.

"She puts the bottle down," he muttered. Zelda put the bottle down, though she could not have heard him.

"She moves over," he added as an afterthought, not realizing that he was reading her most minute of movements, as if he were in a battle, and interpreting them out loud.

Zelda moved over, sitting next to him.

"Hey," she said in a soft voice. Despite the quiet of it, he could hear her perfectly. Link took a slow, deep breath, and exhaled just as slowly.

Zelda put her hand on his shoulder, and in those moments he saw her as he had known her in their place; regal, knowing, wise, and carrying a weight quite heavy for her age. He blinked hard and willed away the vision, and when he opened his eyes again, she was back; her blond hair trailing down her back in tiny braids and her eyes that calming blue; but the drug had leaked a little bit of madness into them.

"It's okay," she said, nodding, her glow leaving faint trails in the air. "I'm right here."

Link reached out and hugged her, then, and Zelda hugged him back. He realized that they were both shaking a little bit.

"You're acting like you haven't done this in ages," Zelda muttered in his ear.

Link pulled back slowly. He had to look in her face, he had to know if she was the right one.

"Zelda, we have to go back."

Her eyes narrowed a fraction. "Go back where?"

Link swore and shook his head. "Not her, not her."

Zelda frowned and leaned back. "What are you talking about? That I've changed? I haven't seen you for six months, Link, and you expect me to stay the same? That's a little hurtful."

"No, I'm sorry… Zelda, but I am looking for a different you. It's you but it's the you I know," Link tried again, but he could tell he was losing her.

Zelda stared at him hard for several minutes.

"Did you take something else tonight?"

Link shook his head emphatically. "No, no. I don't… Saria can explain this, she understands." He turned to find her, but she was lost.

"I am not… I am not the Link that you know. And-" he stopped her before she went to talk, "not in a, 'I've changed' way, but in a way that I am telling you I am not the Link from here, that you know. I am from somewhere else, a different… place entirely."

Zelda tilted her head. "Okay," she said quietly. "Say that I believe you. You don't know me? You've never met… me?"

Link nodded.

"But on the same hand, you do know me, but it's not this me right now."

Again, he nodded.

Zelda shook her head a little, incredulous. "This is too much for me, I think. We'll have to talk when we're sober."

The night crawled and danced past; the moments were slow, but whenever Link checked the cell phone Saria had left on the table for him to watch, it would be a half hour, an hour later. Not once did he dare go out into that throng of people; he was having a hard time not interpreting their dancing as aggressive movements when he was sitting ten feet away. Zelda sat near him most of the time, and ordered sodas and waters from the rare waitress. She paid and pushed a glass down to Link when she noticed even his ice had been devoured.

Link's heart was beating hard, but not quickly. He chewed mercilessly on the straws that came with his drinks, and he vowed to himself to not take any strange little pills ever again.

By six in the morning, Saria reappeared, her clothes soaked with sweat. She reached out and gestured for Link and Zelda, her face haggard. "We should get food!" she shouted.

Ruto and Denno appeared not long after, their eyes equally manic. They helped Link and Zelda pry themselves out of the booth, and they all clustered together behind Denno's imposing form to cut through the crowd, which had not thinned much, despite the hour.

Saria's car was too small to fit everyone, and she was also the only one sober, so instead they walked down the block and went into a grimy donut shop, where several other partiers had gathered. Link was surprised to find he was ravenous.

The cashier looked at him with tired, barely-awake eyes as Link stammered, looking around; he'd barely been able to pay attention to the boards.

"Uhh… iced coffee, and… two Bavarians… and a ham and cheese sandwich, thanks." Iced coffee? Was that what he thought it was? People paid for cold coffee in this city?

Despite his reservations, the drink really was quite delicious, and he ate in huge bites. They all ate like that, saying little, trying to get their fill as quickly as they could. To his relief, Link realized that the colors were turning normal as the sun slowly rose, and no longer did their skin shine and glow from within; just with the glitter that had rubbed off on them from another person. Zelda caught his eye and nodded, and he nodded back. Despite that he hardly did anything all night, he felt good, he felt comfortable now. He'd found his friends.

When they were done, they threw out their wrappers and walked out into the weak morning light.

When Link next woke up, he realized he had really, truly, come down. He felt slightly nauseous and his mouth was dry. Slowly, he sat up and looked around. He wasn't in Saria's apartment, to his confusion. This apartment was much larger, with a similar layout. There was some quiet music playing from behind a door, and Link slowly stood up off the couch he'd been asleep on. Looking around, though, he realized he was in Zelda's apartment; he recognized some of the wall décor she'd had in _their place_.

He peeked behind the door with the music; it was Zelda's room, he could see now, and she was asleep under the covers. He moved back, a little embarrassed, and went to see if he could find some water or something to drink.

To his surprise (and suspicion), he was able to figure out the TV fairly fast, and when Zelda finally shuffled out, yawning and smoothing her unbraided and frizzy hair, he'd been engrossed in a show about making bolts for bridges.

"Well, at least that hasn't changed," she muttered from behind his shoulder. Link looked at her, then back at the screen.

"It's fascinating stuff; these tiny little pieces of metal that make massive structures, weighing thousands of tonnes…"

Zelda shook her head and went to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water. She sat at the far end of the couch, curling her feet up.

They watched until the end of the program in silence, and Zelda grabbed the remote, hitting mute.

"So, Link-but-not-Link," she started, looking at him.

He turned, and her gaze was suspicious, and a little angry.

"Please, let me explain."

"The mere fact that you deigned to get high off your ass with me in a club, hug me, talk to me, tells me that either you are blowing off everything you put me through, or all that crap you rambled about last night is some sort of weirdo sci-fi truth," she snapped. "You see, the Link I know, knew, abruptly left me six months ago, after four years of being together. You, or he, decided that maybe we were too serious, or something, or maybe, that you hadn't seen enough of the world, and had to do this before you could settle down, because apparently I would have no interest in going with you?"

Apparently, the Link of this world did not have as much tact as his current replacement.

"Your Highne—Zelda." Link put up his hands in defense. "I will tell you exactly what I said last night. I am not from this realm. I am from a different time and place, where you are a ruler, and I am your appointed Guard Captain. I came here because you-but-not-you disappeared inside a cave, and when I followed, I fell into this town. Would the Link you know have charged into a restaurant with a sword, terrorizing innocent people?"

Zelda frowned. "No, of course not. Unless he had a bad trip, and even then..."

Link reached for her hands, but Zelda pulled away. He pulled his own back to his lap. "Considering how I reacted to whatever that was last night, do you really believe I am the same person?"

Zelda looked him over slowly, determined and thoughtful. Link waited patiently, holding her gaze. Finally, she slowly shook her head. "No, I really don't."

Link sighed in relief.

"So then, where is your Zelda?" she asked quietly.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I wouldn't even know… where to begin looking for her. I was hoping that since everyone seems to think that I'm this realm's Link, that you would be her, but…"

He leaned back into his seat, frowning.

"Not everything's quite so cut and dried all the time, is it," Zelda muttered. She sighed and stood up, going for her keys on the table. "Come on, I'm taking you back to Saria's."

Link stood up and followed her to the door, reaching out and putting his left hand on her left shoulder. "Zelda?"

In that second, he could see her true self; and it was the queen of Hyrule in that echo image, looking world-weary, but safe.

_Since she had vanished into this world, she had forgotten who she truly was._

"What?" her modern day counterpart replied.

"I'm sorry for your suffering, truly. Whether it's my fault or… the other me."

Her eyes softened briefly, but the flinty hurt and rage iced them back up quickly.

Saria was unnervingly bright and chipper when Link knocked on her apartment door. Zelda had simply dropped him off in front of the building and pulled quickly back into traffic with hardly a good-bye.

"I have the day off from labs today, thank the Goddesses, so if you want I thought maybe we could meet with Ruto's father to discuss your case?" Saria held out an envelope to Link. "This came this morning; probably has your court date."

Link opened the letter and frowned. It was indeed, a reminder of his court appointment. He saw his lawyer was again Gaebora, and in a way this brought him some comfort; a familiar face, someone to offer advice when he would need it. He folded the note again and set it down on the table.

"So, what did you and Zelda do?" Saria asked.

Link shook his head. "Nothing, really. I… I don't actually remember much of last night. All I really know is we left the club and I woke up at Zelda's place."

Saria nodded. "Do you remember anything?"

Link frowned. "What about? Last night, not really. Well—" he thought carefully. "I could see auras. Is that normal with this drug?"

Saria looked at him in surprise. "Auras? No. Unless you mean around the lights? Lights were really bright and fuzzy?"

"No, around people." He gestured helplessly around his shoulders. "Like on Zelda, hers was huge and bright gold, and I could see her as the queen that she is in my world. When did you say she came here?"

"Back to town?" Saria tapped her chin as she thought, leaning against one of the walls. "About… six or so months ago. She practically had a nervous breakdown; screaming that she wanted to go home, that she needed…" she glanced at Link and went red and looked away, "… that she was scared and lonely, and demanding to know where you were. We couldn't tell her anything; we figured you'd had a nasty falling out."

Link straightened up, his eyes focused. "Saria. Did Zelda tell anyone she was coming home? Who did she find first?"

Saria also went very still; it seemed she'd quickly picked up on Link's thread of thought. "No, she didn't contact a soul. We finally found out she was back in town from her law school mentor, Impa Ivanova."

Link's eyes widened. "She… she had a breakdown? Ruto mentioned the same thing. Saria, last night, when I was seeing those auras, Zelda… she _was_ the Queen. The one I know."

Saria nodded slowly. "No shit… but—you were high. It could have been just a hallucination."

Link shook his head. "But it could be her! When I met Ruto, when she touched me, I saw her as she is in our world. When I put my hand on Zelda's arm, I could see her as the queen, I could see who she was."

"But did Ruto disappear from your world?"

"No, she didn't.." Link sighed. "But I think it's her. I think… she forgot who she is."

"And why do you think that?" Saria asked quietly.

Link looked at her dead on. "Because I'm starting to forget."


	3. Trance

"Oh, you have Gaebora," Ruto's father said with a nod. "Great man, really. Does his best for his clients, I assure you. Honestly, you should talk to him about working everything out."

Ruto leaned in towards him. "But Dad, don't you think you can maybe talk to the judge? Tell him you can vouch for Link's character as a one time offense or something?"

Zora looked over his glasses at his daughter, shaking his head. "My dear girl, the most he can do is hang onto some sort of temporary insanity defense. I suppose I could mention something to the judge, but only if Gaebora is there and brings up the case first. I shouldn't even be discussing this now on a professional level."

He patted Link's shoulder. "Trust me. Call Gaebora, take his advice. You'll be fine."

Link nodded. "Thank you."

Ruto rolled her shoulders back. "So, who wants lunch?"

The three of them (Ruto's father stayed behind, claiming he had a lot of work to accomplish) went to a sushi restaurant, and Link stared at the menu helplessly. He enjoyed fish a great deal, and he was rather hungry.

"You still enjoy the JabuJabu roll, right?" Ruto asked him, smiling. Link had no idea what she was talking about, but he nodded all the same. Link looked away from his menu from time to time, looking around at the restaurant, at the items on the table. He could and couldn't remember the place; something had happened here, they'd been here before.

"I haven't been here since…" he started, thinking, "since… Zelda's birthday. Her twenty-second." It clicked then, and he remembered the waitress bringing out an extra tuna roll on the house. Denno and Ruto dominated the karaoke space in the bar, and it was the first time that he and Zelda…

"Oh, I'd forgotten about that," Ruto said in surprise. "Is it too uncomfortable for you?" Her voice quavered, torn between apology and anger, and Link thought he could see her watching him out of the corner of his eye. If he said it was no big deal, perhaps she would think he cared nothing for Zelda. If he said it was a problem, it meant finding another restaurant and Ruto feeling either guilty or annoyed.

Instead, he shrugged. "I think I can handle it for one day."

This seemed to be the best answer, and Ruto nodded once, and went back to her menu.

The waitress brought over their meals, and Link leaned towards Saria a little ways.

"I think they forgot to cook mine," he muttered in as low a tone as he could manage.

"That's how sushi is… what do you eat in your world, anyway?" Saria asked, a little mockingly. Ruto was occupying herself with pouring out little dishes of sauce, and splitting a pair of sticks apart, handing them round. When she went to break Link's apart though, they broke wrong, leaving one stick with a tapered top edge.

"Whoa," she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows. "I'm such a pro at this usually."

Saria laughed and waved her hand. "It's just one pair, Ru, not everyone's perfect."

Ruto handed the sticks over, looking at Link carefully, but not answering his curious look. After a few minutes of fumbling, Link realized how to handle the utensils, and ate the first piece.

He was flooded with memories connected to the flavor; Zelda's birthday again, a few other occasions; just nights out, from what he could tell, with the whole crowd seated together and laughing. Their first date was here, their one year anniversary was here, and later—

Link coughed once, his hand over his mouth. There was an awful burning sensation in his throat that he did not like, and he felt the muscles cramp and tense around the weird, sharp flavor.

Ruto stopped and looked at Link directly, her chewing slowing down as he picked up his glass of water and cleared half of it in an instant.

"Ah, a little spicier than I remember," he offered. Ruto was frowning, her eyes narrowed, and she swung her gaze around to Saria. Saria glanced up nervously and back down to her veggie rolls.

"Who the fuck is this?" Ruto snapped. "The guy on the 20 Hot Wing Challenge hall of fame at Fyrus's can't handle a little fuckin' wasabi? Did you guys hire some sort of look-alike or something to fuck with Zelda's head? I'm not her biggest fan but that's messed up, Saria."

Saria raised one hand slightly; Ruto's tone had elevated and a few people had glanced over. "We will tell you everything when we're done, okay?"

Ruto shrugged. "Okay then, we're done." She flapped one hand in the air, and a waitress who'd been trying to stare surreptitiously from the bar came hustling over.

"Everything okay?" she offered.

"We need the bill and boxes, please."

"Uh, of course." The waitress was back quickly, perhaps hoping to find out more of what they were talking about, but Ruto threw down several bills in silence, piling all the sushi pieces into her box. She stood up quickly, and Link and Saria jumped to follow her.

They climbed into the waiting limo, and Ruto put the sushi in one of the ice chests, then rolled up the divider window between them and the driver and made sure the intercom was off. She settled into place, folding her arms and throwing one leg over the other, and stared across the car at them, waiting.

Awkward silence took hold in the car, and finally Saria cleared her throat.

"He's not Link."

"I fuckin' knew it! He looks damn close though, I was almost fooled for a bit there."

"And yet, he is Link."

Ruto tilted her head and frowned. "Saria, don't fuck with me now."

Saria shook her head. "This is going to sound insane, so just listen, okay?"

They gave Ruto the basic rundown, and once again it was the same questions, the same denials, and then,

"Well, if you're not Link, then, prove it." Ruto resumed her original posture and waited.

Link and Saria looked at each other; how could he do that? Reluctantly, he turned his gaze back to Ruto.

"Ruto, hasn't something always… seemed off, about me? Since I came back?"

She sucked on her teeth, eyeing him.

"I can't handle the drugs we took at that.. place. I don't have a um…" he snapped his fingers.

"Car?" Saria supplied.

"Yes, that—uh, the fact I just came out of nowhere dressed oddly? Come on, Ruto. You remember the first time you saw me. Would your Link have dressed like that out of the blue?"

Ruto nodded a little bit. "You really believe this, don't you?"

"It's the truth, Ruto. I swear it."

"Ruto, didn't it seem suspicious when Zelda came back? She's probably the most level-headed person we know, and she was having a meltdown." Saria ran her fingers through her hair. "She didn't recognize her own father, Ruto. She didn't even go to his house; she found Dr. Ivanova first. Don't you think she would have gone home?"

Ruto's face changed in a subtle way, and she looked at Link dead on. "You guys really mean it, don't you? This whole thing is real."

"Every word," he replied in a low voice.

"This is crazy… I mean, I knew you were kinda acting strange but I figured it was just like, because you'd been gone so friggin' long, you know?" She leaned forward, excited and curious. "So what am I like in your world? Am I married? Am I the same?"

"Well… mostly, yes. Except…"

"Except?" she tilted her head.

"You're a Zora. A… fish person."

Ruto frowned. "What is that, like a mermaid?"

Link nodded, though he had no clue what a mermaid was. "I guess?"

"And what about Saria?" she asked, gesturing to the mentioned.

Link looked at her. "She's… we call them Kokiri. They live in the forest."

"So like, fairies or something."

"Well, no, not really. They're like…" Link faltered; he couldn't think of the words to explain the difference to Ruto. He didn't know if it was an actual struggle to accurately convey the idea, or… if he was getting worse. "I can't describe it. But they're not."

"Do you think there's a way to cure Zelda? Or, to find ours?" Saria asked suddenly. Link had been so focused on just finding her, he hadn't thought about whether the memory loss was permanent.

"I don't know," he admitted.

Ruto was messing with a small device that fit in her hand, with a bright screen. "Awesome, I kept it," she muttered. She pressed a button on the side, and a funny ring sounded from the phone.

It rang once, twice, thrice, and then…

"Hello?"

"What the hell sort of device is that?" Link asked sharply.

"It's a phone, I'll explain later," Saria whispered. Everyone had gone very still in the car.

"Hello? Ruto?" the voice on the other end sounded again. Then, fainter, in the background, "Link? Who is it?"

"It's Ruto, but she hasn't…" the voice trailed off as the person turned their head away from the mouthpiece.

Ruto hung up abruptly. "Hoooly shit," she breathed. "See, I almost deleted yours—well, our your's phone number cus I was like so pissed after Zelda came back freaking out, but…"

"That was them, wasn't it?" Link asked. "The ones of this world."

"We've got to get you home," Saria murmured.

Ruto hardly gave them a good bye when they hopped out of her car at Saria's apartment; she still seemed to be in shock after their brief phone call.

Link and Saria dawdled outside of her apartment for a bit, but she appeared too jumpy to head back up to it. So instead, they climbed in her car and drove to the arboretum where she worked and studied.

Saria visibly relaxed when they stepped into the park proper; she paused on the worn path and looked around, then started walking, her steps slow and dreamy.

"When I was a kid, I would go on long walks with my grandpa. He and I would set out into the woods, or go to the park, or any old thing, and we would wander around, just looking at trees and plants and bugs.

One day, he showed me two clusters of mushrooms. They looked exactly the same, but he took his knife and cut one from each cluster in half, showing me that one was hollow, and one was not. 'You don't eat the full ones,' he warned me. He went on and continued pointing out dangerous and safe things to eat, to use for wounds and the like. 'It's easier to tell what is a dangerous animal, compared to what is a dangerous plant. They don't have claws, they don't roar, and they can't chase you down. All they can do is wait for your own foolishness.' Grandpa made it sound like this was very important to know. I think that is what led me to study plants so obsessively."

They stopped in front of a few small shrubs, many of the leaves from the plant torn off. Saria bent down and plucked a few of the smallest leaves from the back half of the least ravaged plant.

"Unfortunately, I am one of the few bio students who prefers to study rather than partake," she muttered under her breath to Link. The leaves were long and thin, and of a pale green, with a fuzzy texture and even paler veins running down the center. She handed them over to Link, who held them carefully in his palm. "This plant is known to have some psychoactive effects, and people claim they have 'visions' when they smoke or chew it. I recommend chewing, personally; it doesn't destroy the natural chemicals that trigger the hallucinations, and it's easier on the lungs."

"What kind of visions?" Link asked.

Saria shrugged. "Some people, from what my classmates have said, just see weird things; their hands melting, walls growing and shrinking, stuff like that. Others claim to be able to see secrets about other people, and still others say they see the future. But not one of those bastards has come up with the winning lottery numbers, so I'm sure they're just full of it and projecting or something."

"Why are you giving me this?" he asked, still cupping them gently in one hand.

"It's not just for you, it's for Zelda too. My thought is, since you both seemed to react to each other even under the influence of cheap ecstacy, maybe something like this can inspire a stronger reaction, where she'll see the truth? I mean, it's worth a try."

He closed his fist carefully around the fragrant leaves. "Thanks, Saria."

They wandered through the arboretum for a few more hours, Saria rambling on and on about the various plants. They plucked a couple mint leaves and chewed thoughtfully on them as they walked the beaten path. When even the nibbles of mint couldn't keep their stomachs sated, Saria led them back to her car, warm from sitting in direct sun, and they went to a cheap restaurant where food was prepared quickly, and served on plastic trays.

"You'll want to take it in a calm space, somewhere you both feel safe. I'm not sure if there's anywhere that feels safe for you here. Keep things neutral though, like, make sure both of you are on good ground with each other, you didn't just have an argument, because it could skew the results."

Link glanced at Saria over his fries. "You say you don't take the stuff, but you talk like you do," he pointed out.

Saria shrugged. "Just because I don't take it doesn't mean I wouldn't know the effects. Plus I've done a lot of babysitting for you guys over the years. I know what can make the best experience." She took a drink of her shake before continuing. "Invite her to it, and be honest with her about what it is and stuff. No one likes to be thrown into a drug unknowingly."

"I could certainly believe that," Link replied with a bit of ice to his voice.

She sighed. "Look, they didn't know you weren't you at that point. They assumed you knew what you were taking."

"Well don't worry yourself about this, I will be informing Zelda of what my intentions are with this leaf exactly."

Saria smiled faintly at him. "Good."

They stepped outside again, walking to Saria's car. About midway there, Link stopped, holding his arms out slightly, feeling off-balance and nauseous.

"Whoa—hold on—"

Saria stopped and turned, looking at him with wide eyes. "Link? Is everything okay?"

He shook his head, as if trying to shake off a bug, and slowly lowered his arms again, the ground steadying underneath him. "I… yes, I'm alright." He relaxed, but still frowned, and stepped forward. "It felt like the ground was shaking; did you feel it?"

"No, I didn't feel a thing." Saria bit her lower lip and looked him over, then at the ground, but she couldn't see any signs of what could have happened. "Maybe it's because of the stress," she offered, but she wasn't so sure.

They climbed back in the car. "Should I call Zelda first?" Saria offered. "Make sure she's home?"

Link looked at her in surprise. "Are you sure that's best? I don't know how much she trusts me yet, if at all."

Saria shrugged. "It's worth a try, isn't it? Those leaves work best when they're fresh, anyway." Without another word, she picked up her cell phone and dialed.

"Hey, what's up? … ah, nothin' much. Link and I were just wondering if you were around tonight, he wanted to talk to you? … uhhh, well I guess about why he's here. … have you heard him out? At all? … uh huh… he's not! He's not, I know it sounds like it but he's not crazy. … look, can we please come over? I think it'll be best to talk face t… well where are you going? … Where, Ikana or something? … Zelda, please! We just want—"

Saria pulled the phone away and frowned at it. "She hung up."

"She's going out somewhere?" Link asked.

"She wouldn't say where, though. So we can't track her down."

"Does she have a pattern, does she go to certain clubs on certain nights? Does she have favorites?"

Saria shrugged. "I don't really know. She might be heading to Ikana, she might go to Lon Lon Café… that actually sounds like our best bet." Saria started the car, and they rumbled down the street towards the coffee shop.

They sat at the coffee shop until it was nearly 10, near the back in a dark corner, constantly watching and talking little. Finally, after realizing the proprietor had been glowering at them for some time (only one coffee each!), Saria murmured an apology.

"I was wrong, she's not coming here tonight." She slapped down a generous tip, pinning it with her drained mug, and they headed together towards the door.

A small tinkly tune that Link knew he recognized sounded from Saria's phone. She answered it quickly.

"Hello?" A beat, and her eyes widened. "What? Why?" Saria covered her free ear with her hand to better hear the person on the other end, stopping cold. A few people, trying to enter through the door, had to sidle around her. Link pulled Saria to one side.

"Well where are you guys now? … her place? … yeah he's with me. … We'll be over shortly."

She snapped the phone closed. Before Link could even ask, she snapped, "Ruto went over there and told Zelda about the phone call. We have to get over there now."

Despite her usual stance of obeying the speed limit, Saria broke that all over the place. She took quick and unexpected turns, muttering to herself about Ruto's foolishness—"she could have at least WAITED" was grumbled at one point. She never even bothered to snap up her restraints, and so it was that when they did pull in front of the antique building, she was able to scramble out of the car mere moments ahead of Link, making a mad dash for the door. This was repaired at the elevator, where she was slapping the 'up' button with her palm, only to finally give up and run for the stairs.

Zelda's apartment was on the eighth floor, the top floor of the building. Even in what he considered fairly peak physical condition, Link was starting to pant by the third. Saria was breathing harder, but she kept a steely grip on the railing and thundered her way up each flight.

They reached the door to Zelda's apartment and Saria took a few deep breaths before knocking sharply. Link stood close behind her, tense and trying to get his breathing under control.

Their waiting wasn't long; Ruto practically ripped the door open, her dark eyes huge. Zelda stood up from her couch, looking oddly… calm. She greeted them in a neutral tone, and invited them to sit down.

"Ruto told me that you and her had an interesting phone conversation earlier, but that it wasn't with you," she said, directing her gaze to Link. "She then proceeded to call you, claiming it was you on the other side of the country." Zelda held out one hand, and Link stared at it.

"Hand me your phone, so I can check that Ruto hasn't called it."

"I don't even know what that is," Link replied, but looking at the small device Ruto had been clutching in one hand helped him make the connection.

"Of course you don't," Zelda replied, rolling her eyes. She glanced at Ruto, sitting near her and looking at Link, and quickly snatched the phone from Ruto's hands.

Ruto shouted in alarm as Zelda stepped rapidly back from the couch, holding her free hand out to stop Ruto from coming after her.

"If you guys are screwing with me in some elaborate prank, I will tell you right now that this is NOT funny, and I will NOT deal with ANY of you in the future," Zelda said, in a level tone. But her face was thunderous, and there was an edge of hysteria and anger riding that line of calm in her tone that froze everyone where they were.

Zelda studied the phone, quickly figuring it out, and dialed Link's number. She stared at Link as it rang.

The room was silent, and they could all hear, very faintly, the receiver pick up on the other end, and Link's voice. "Hey Ruto, lost you earlier. Is everything okay? … Ruto?"

Zelda's arm, still raised, slumped slightly. She looked at Ruto, then at Saria, and finally, at Link, who stared at her helplessly.

"When was our anniversary?" she spoke into the receiver. Silence. Faintly, "… who is this? Ruto? Anniversary…?"

"It's Zelda, damn it! When was our anniversary?"

"… is this a prank?" Noises too quiet for the others to hear, but they could tell by the way her eyes widened that she had heard something she wasn't expecting. Maybe herself. Slowly, she hung up the phone and handed it back.

It started ringing two seconds later, and Ruto quickly answered, her face pale.

"Hey L—Zelda?" As the one standing in the room with them looked ready to faint, Link found to his great relief that he had not lost all of himself. He jumped up from his chair, putting one hand at the small of Zelda's back and taking her left hand with his to lead her to a seat. She gasped and looked at him, and in those few fragile seconds where they held hands, she could see him, really see him, and he could really see her.

"Link?" she whispered hoarsely, tears in her eyes.

"My lady," he murmured, guiding her back to the couch with decorum and taking a respectful step back, dropping her hand.

Zelda still looked terrified but hopeful, as if someone she did not think she would see again had come home. But after a few minutes, she shook her head and ran her fingers through her hair, blinking hard, and he could see that strange 'fit' of her being in this reality snapping back into place.

"Did she buy it?" Saria asked suddenly, looking at Ruto.

Ruto stared at her phone. "For now, I think. I told her I spilled iced tea on my phone this morning and it's been randomly dialing people all day," she explained to the dazed outliers in the room.

Zelda rubbed her eyes. "I need to eat something," she mumbled. "I'm feeling nauseous."

"Are you alright?" Saria asked, half-standing.

Ruto nodded. "She's fine, just a little…" she surreptitiously glanced towards the ashtray on the table.

"Oh COME ON!" shouted Saria. "Are you telling me she's been high this whole time?"

"She was freaking out and I had an old birthday gift laying around in my purse I had to use up!"

Link rubbed his forehead. "Does any of what happened _count_?" he snapped. "Will she think it's all a hallucination?"

"I'm right here still," Zelda grumbled from behind her hand. "Weirder stuff has happened while I've been under the influence."

"I mean, what sort of world is this? You sit around abusing illicit herbs half the day, eating raw fish and cold coffee the other half!"

"Hey!" all three girls shouted at once, in unison, and their voices layered over each other as they started yelling.

"I bailed you out of jail—"

"—given you guys rides all over, including free lunch and legal advice—"

"—half-carried your ass home and helped you when you were under a drug you didn't understand even though I have every right to hate you—"

"You're the one who came here and threw everything off balance, not us, so why don't you just leave?" Ruto finished. The echo of their voices left a faint ringing in the room as they stared Link down.

"… I don't know how to get back," he muttered, feeling a brief, hot trickle of embarrassment.

They stood around in Zelda's apartment for a few minutes, stewing in their own anger and bewilderment and frustration, letting it temper and cool in a corner where it would eventually fade.

"… can we go somewhere please?" Zelda asked softly, her hand still over her eyes. "To eat and maybe to… not think?"

The group looked around at each other and nodded.

So, they bundled up in Saria's shitty car and headed out.

They stopped at a late-night restaurant that served breakfast all the time. Intrigued, Link ordered the Labrynnyn toast, which turned out to be stacked bread soaked in egg, milk, and cinnamon and drizzled with maple syrup and confectionary sugar. It was quite good, and he would have to remember this recipe to take back with him, if he figured how to do that.

Perhaps food was what he needed. It had been hours since he had tried the sad little sandwich ("a burger," Saria had called it) at the falsely cheery restaurant; this new food made him feel better, and once again determined to bring Zelda's memory back and get them both home. And how long had he been gone, anyway? He hated that he had no way to tell. It shrank his appetite.

"So where should we go?" mused Ruto over her fried fish.

"… go?" Link had lost his train of thought from the conversation.

"Actually, I'm kinda tired," mumbled Saria. "I think I might drop you guys off and head home."

"Aww, seriously?" Ruto frowned. "Spoilsport."

"Link, do you have a key for my place?" Saria asked.

"Uhhh, yeah. I think so. But how will I get back?"

"We'll figure something out, we can share a cab or something," Ruto answered, shrugging. "Do you still want to go with us, Zel?"

"Ah, yeah," she replied. "Dancing sounds good."

Ruto directed Saria to a club she called "Grotto", which was a tall, skinny building sort of haphazardly stuck between two others.

They climbed out in a procession, and though he held out a hand to assist her, Zelda shook her head. "I'm feeling much better," she murmured, looking into his face briefly. For one very brief second, he considered leaning in and—

"Hey, come on," Ruto called out. She headed for the front door, despite the short line of people, who muttered in jealousy. The bouncer at the doorway smiled at Ruto and stepped back for her.

"They're with me," she said, gesturing to the two stragglers behind her. He nodded and waved Link and Zelda through, and they pressed close together as they wound through the tiny main hall.

After ten or twenty paces, it opened up into a large room, with strobing multicolored lights. It felt a great deal like the first club, but the music was louder and deeper, and the dancing people were interacting, some a little too closely. Ruto immediately went forward into the throng, and Link turned to Zelda. She smiled sympathetically at him, but not for long.

"I'm not quite ready yet. Let's find a place to sit."

They looked around the perimeter of the club, finding a freshly abandoned booth. Link was strongly reminded of the first time they met, but there was something wrong with the memory; it wasn't from when he first fell into this realm, it was earlier. It wasn't a memory he should know. Saria had introduced them; at a similar club. He groaned and put one hand to his head; a powerful headache rolled over him and he felt curiously _thin_, as if he had slipped out from his body. The instant was over shortly, and his forehead was damp with cold sweat.

Zelda was staring at him, and she looked genuinely alarmed, and reached out to touch his arm. "Are you okay?" she called out over the din.

Link shook his head, shaking off the dizziness and the fading headache. "Yeah, I'm okay," he called out in response. Her arm was warm on his, and he realized his whole body had a thin layer of the damp sweat.

"No no no," Ruto shouted at them from the other side of the cramped table. They hadn't realized she was there; she was panting and her skin glittered. "You can't have every single Link to yourself, Zel!"

Zelda tried to laugh, let it die, then replied, "Bite me!" in a falsely cheerful tone.

"You're dancing with me tonight!" Ruto went to Link's side of the booth and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her and out on the dance floor. He followed her into the crowd, not that he had much choice, and when they found a space just big enough for their bodies, she pulled him in close. The bass in the music pulsed through his feet from the floor, and Ruto gripped him tighter, pulling his hips in against her own. She began… well it certainly wasn't dancing as far as he knew. Ruto moved her body with the beat against his. Reluctantly, Link started moving with her, nodding his head a little along with the beat. He put his hands on Ruto's sides, his touch light and unsure.

"You guys are such prudes in your world!" Ruto shouted, laughing. She grabbed his hands with hers and put them lower, on her hips, and she put her hands up on his back.

"I wouldn't say that, we just… uh… respect…boundaries!" Ruto had leaned up, her cheek against his, so that she could hear him talking.

"Do you like Zelda?" she asked.

"Well… I don't really know her, I guess? Like, I knew her back in our realm, but I don't know her here. She's different."

"What is she like over there?"

Link shook his head. "This conversation is getting sort of personal, I think."

"What am I like?" Ruto was trying another tact.

"I've told you, you're a… what was it."

"But how do I act?"

"Mostly the same," he answered, shrugging.

"What are we like?"

He was confused, and figured he didn't hear the question. "I'm sorry?"

"Us? What are we like?"

Link felt very uncomfortable, and not because Ruto's knee…

"We're friends. We're good friends."

"Just friends?"

"Um…"

She turned her head and kissed him. Link stumbled back a little bit, caught completely off guard. But her mouth was warm and soft, and he could remember when they'd dated

_what? We never_

before he met Zelda. Link broke off the kiss and cleared his throat nervously, not that it could be heard.

"Ruto, what was that for?"

She shrugged. "I just wanted to know what kind of relationship we have in your world, is all."

"We're friends. Just friends."

She nodded and scooted closer to him again, but she did not kiss him again.

Eventually, they did break apart to dance, and Link turned to see that Zelda had joined them on the dance floor. Her eyes were closed, and her arms were in the air. He watched her dancing, trying to mimic her movements and feeling that he was doing a poor job of it. But there was something relaxing about it, moving in the crowd and knowing that all people cared about was keeping in rhythm to the music. And when he felt he could no longer go on, that he needed water and sleep, he was relieved to see the girls felt the same way.

Zelda hailed a cab, and they checked their wallets for fare. Link stared into his empty pocket; how had his stores depleted so suddenly? Ruto looked at him surreptitiously, and looked at Zelda meaningfully over Link's shoulder. Zelda shook her head.

Ruto's apartment was first, as it was closest. She kissed Link's cheek and hugged him. "Take care of her, make sure she takes care of you," she murmured in his ear. She slipped out with a wave to them, and went inside as the cab pulled away into the thin traffic.

"And then there were two," Zelda said cryptically. Link looked at her, but she stared ahead, through the window over the driver's shoulder.

They didn't speak for the rest of the drive. When they stopped at Zelda's apartment, Link hopped out after her. He couldn't pay for the ride; he would walk.

Zelda paid the driver, and looked at Link. "You're not going to Saria's?"

"I feel like a walk would be beneficial," he answered.

Zelda looked into his face and faintly smiled. "Link, Saria lives in a terrible neighborhood. Even a brawler like you could get hurt." She turned away, finding her house key, which was actually a thin plastic card. Link hesitated, staring after her. She looked back once the main entrance door was unlocked.

"Come on. You can stay on the couch again." They took the elevator this time, which fascinated him; at the same fair he'd seen the horseless carriages, he had seen a similar device.

They went into her apartment and Zelda locked the door behind him. She went first to the kitchen and poured them both tall glasses of water, and they drank greedily. Zelda watched him over the edge of her glass.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, once she was done with her drink.

"Quite well, just tired," he said in reply, putting one hand in his pocket. It crinkled on something, and he realized it was the leaves that Saria had plucked for him.

"Let's sit down, I want to talk a little bit. Just us." Zelda gestured to the couch and she sat on the far end, her legs stretched out. Link sat at the other end and stared at his glass. Zelda swirled the ice around in the bottom of hers before talking.

"I want to apologize to you, for not believing you. I've had some… nasty shocks in the past several months. I didn't want to believe this was you. Until today, I still believed you were trying some elaborate prank to win me over." She swirled the ice again.

"Even with Ruto's phone call, I couldn't quite believe it. She could have been talking to someone else, or a prank call; anything. Like, maybe she was still a little angry at me for stealing you from her. But… then I called, and, I heard you talking, but not you."

Shakily, Zelda took a deep breath. "And in the background, I heard myself."

It was confirmed. Link stared at Zelda, rooted, feeling as if his very nerves were on edge.

"Then, at the club. You felt sick."

Link nodded. "It's been happening since I arrived here. It's been getting worse."

Zelda held up a hand to stop him, not done. She swallowed hard. "For a second, just a second, you disappeared before my eyes."


	4. Ambient

They ate the leaves (they were going to go bad, after all), Zelda put on some music, and they sprawled out on Zelda's living room floor, watching the ceiling. Link's legs pointed north, and Zelda's pointed south, and their heads were to the left of each other, so they could still hear each other while talking.

"What am I like over there?"

Link closed his eyes; he had a feeling he would be having this conversation again.

"You're the queen."

"The _queen_? Amazing." She smiled warmly, watching faint tendrils of light and color swirl on the ceiling. "That's so amazing. What do I rule?"

"The country of Hyrule."

"The whole thing? It's a country?"

"Yes. You're the queen."

"What are you?"

"Me?"

"Yes."

"I am your Knight in Arms. Head of the castle guard and all that."

"Is it like a romance novel?"

"What?"

"Like, in daytime you're my knight in arms, at night I'm in your arms kind of thing…"

"No, no, most certainly not. We are friends, very good friends. Well, we're connected."

"Connected?"

"We guard parts of a holy relic from Ganondorf."

"The prosecutor?"

"The what?"

Zelda waved a hand in the air to dismiss the comment.

"… this just… I can't even process this. It sounds so fake."

"Do you have magic here?"

"Magic? Like tricks, cutting a woman in half?"

"No, those are illusions. I mean… fairy folk, imbuing sacred symbols."

"Um… there's some religions that claim to do that sort of thing, but I think it's mostly coincidence, or power of belief."

"It's one of the things that's been bothering me since I came here," Link said softly. "Beyond everything being… so… unbelievable. I have a belt that I wear, in our world. It's… imbued? Yes. It can hold… an infinite number of objects in little pouches. It doesn't work here."

He could feel her looking at him, and he turned to meet her gaze. To his shock, there was a small tear rolling down her cheek.

"Sorry, I…" She wiped it away. "I yawned, and sometimes I get a little overemotional on this stuff." Zelda took a deep breath. "I'm nervous. I mean… how do we get back?"

Link raised his eyebrows at the plural noun. "You want to return?"

"Well, I'm the queen, and I'm missing. Surely my king is missing me, any children we have… do I have children?"

"No. You have not yet selected a king. Some joke that your king is the country."

"I may not believe this story completely yet. Um… I guess I'm worried that I won't remember how to rule. Will I gain back memories? Or will I be just as I am?"

"From my experience so far, you will gain back the memories. But it will be slow. I am… each day I spend here, I am gaining your Link's memories, despite him being here. It's like… I either have to become him, or I have to leave."

"And myself? I mean… I don't remember much of the first months I spent here. I cried… a lot. Ruto, Denno, Saria, Dr. Ivanova; they were there for me. They helped me."

"Ivanova?"

"Yes, Impa Ivanova. One of my favorite professors."

Link stifled a laugh.

"What's so funny?" Zelda asked.

"Impa is… she was your nanny as a child."

Zelda laughed too. "So everyone here is there."

"Yes, except for us."

Their faces sobered up as they stared at each other, and Link could feel tension in the air.

"Why aren't we together, over there?"

"It's inappropriate, in our positions of power."

"But we are here; should we be?"

"I think that… just because we are in a relationship here, and Ruto and I were in a relationship here, doesn't mean we have to be together in every realm. And we are together in a platonic way; we are friends."

Zelda giggled suddenly, sporadically. Link waited.

"The fact that here, our cars and cell phones and TVs must look… so odd to you, but there, I… I mean, will I even know how to adapt? How to handle myself?"

"I will help you, I swear it." He reached up with his left hand, and Zelda reached with hers, and they twined their fingers together. They both gasped slightly, watching the ceiling again; it was glowing with a brilliant light, brighter than morning. In it, they watched fairy lights swirling around each other, bouncing together and exploding in little dazzling piles of sparks.

"You are right," Zelda whispered after a while. Link had been dozing, but he hadn't known until her words woke him up.

"Hm?" His left arm had gone numb; they were still holding hands.

"I can… faintly, when we touch like this, I can sort of remember. I see a huge, grassy field, with horses. I'm in a castle, in a hallway; I'm staring down… a crowd of people, in fancy dress. They want to talk to me. You're to my left…" she closed her eyes and squeezed Link's hand. "I'm so tired."

"Go lay down," he suggested.

"Come with me. I'm lonely."

Link closed his eyes. First Ruto, now Zelda. What, was there a full moon or something?

"Link. It is not appropriate in … our world. I know this. But… I'm lonely there, I know this. And I am lonely here. It doesn't have to be anything sexual. I only ask because I feel really comfortable with you right now. I wouldn't have been able to do this a few days ago. If it compromises your Knight's code or whatever, though, I understand."

Link thought for a moment. "Well. I will only lay with you until you fall asleep, agreed? Then I can come out to the couch."

Zelda nodded. "That will work."

Slowly, they got up, and the spinning, dazzling lights and swirls followed their field of vision. Link stood first, slowly, then helped Zelda stand, and guided her to her bedroom. He stood outside the door, facing into the hallway as she changed.

"Okay," she called out when finished, and he turned around, coming into the bedroom. Zelda was climbing under the covers, a huge white downy quilt. Link slowly walked toward the bed, hesitating, his hand above the blankets. He took a deep breath and laid down on top of the covers. Zelda snuggled down in the covers, one shoulder poking out.

"How long have I been ruling?" she asked quietly.

"A few years," Link murmured. "About three."

"Why haven't I picked a king yet?"

"You're… I've never been entirely sure. You won't tell me."

"Why didn't I make you king?"

Link thought for a few minutes. "I think… it was to keep us close, and to defend Hyrule from two places. You would defend it in peace times, with wisdom and fair ruling. I would defend it in war times, by commanding the armies."

"Could you not do that as king?"

"No. During war times, the king is trotted out as a figurehead, to raise morale, or if there is request for a peace treaty. You felt I would be better doing actual fighting."

"Are you a good fighter?"

Link smirked a little. "The best."

Zelda smiled, with a full-faced warmth. "Of course you are."

"Come on now, as if the queen is going to appoint a half-hearted grasshand."

"Grasshand?"

"It's a term for weak swordfighter that we use, likening the blade in their fist to be of grass, not steel."

They lay there, staring at each other. Finally, Zelda closed her eyes.

"I will see you in the morning," he whispered. Zelda made a soft noise in response. He crept from the bed, and went to the couch, and laid down.

Zelda woke up after noon, rubbing her eyes. She yawned and stretched, listening to the soft sound of music playing from the living room, and a faint shifting. She tensed and crept out of bed, stepping on the balls of her feet.

When she saw Link's form on the couch, she relaxed and let her weight drop to her heels, and she padded softly into the kitchen, and poured a glass of water. She sat back down in the living room and watched Link sleep, thinking about what had happened last night. In the light of day, sober, it was like a dream; she was able to separate the feelings and ideas from reality and look them over with a critical eye. And now, thinking back on it, she felt so foolish for believing everything they'd talked about, but at the same time, she very much wanted to believe him.

Sometimes, early in the morning, she would wake up and half-expect someone in the room with her; someone there to assist her with… getting ready for the day. On these sorts of days, she would have little headaches off and on, a hot pulse throbbing in the back of her head. She closed her eyes and tried to think back before six months ago. She could get snatches of happy times, birthdays and holidays, but leading up to this actual… rift, she lost her memories. She couldn't even remember their break-up, if they argued, what had set it off.

A sudden bubble of a headache pulsed from the back of her head forward to her forehead, and Zelda groaned, touching one temple with her fingertips. Every time she tried to pinpoint the exact moment, she got this headache. She used to black out, as well, but she had long since recovered from that.

Zelda stood up and set down her water glass with a light 'thunk' on the wood. She leaned back up, and Link was looking at her, awake.

"Morning," Zelda murmured, folding her arms.

"Morning," Link replied.

"Do you need to shower or something? Or should I take you to Saria's? You'd probably have a change of clothes there…"

"It'd be better to shower there," he said, slowly sitting up. He looked Zelda over, turning away. "Aren't you cold?"

Zelda glanced down; she was wearing a thin shirt and cotton sleeping shorts. "No, I'm… does it bother you?"

"Ah… no." He stood up, adjusting the waistband of his slacks.

"Um… I was thinking about last night," Zelda murmured. "Everything that we talked about, I don't know how well you remember."

"Mostly, I do." They both sat back down on the couch.

"It sounds… so fantastical. It did even, last night. I cannot wrap my head around this. It just makes more sense right now to think that it was made up, or that it isn't true."

"It is, it's all true," he assured her. Zelda nodded half-heartedly, then continued.

"I was trying to… think about this supposed break-up. That we had."

"But apparently did not."

"The thing is," Zelda cleared her throat. "I can't remember it. I can't remember the days leading up to it, I can't remember the actual event. What might've been said, what might've started it, who broke up with whom. Nothing. When I try, I feel a headache. I black out—used to. I can't believe, exactly, what you told me last night. But I can't remember… anything about a breakup."

"Because there wasn't one," he urged, gently.

"… how did I get here?" she asked. "I mean… how did this, how is it physically possible?"

He shook his head. "I can't tell you. I can't even explain it and I remember what had happened. But we will get back. I assure you. And I will help you remember how to rule your country, as best I can."

"We should talk about your trial."

It was about three in the afternoon, and Link was sipping a mug of coffee(hot!) in Saria's apartment. He was freshly showered and dressed, and felt much better for it. Zelda also had a cup of coffee, and the three of them sat around the tiny scratched up table near her kitchen to talk.

"Honestly, what is there to talk about? I don't know if I will actually go."

Saria stared and almost dropped her tea.

"No, not like that," Link offered, raising one hand. "I mean… if I figure out how to get home."

"You have to at least try to stay for the trial; there's no telling how this can upset the balance if you don't show. They may go after the other Link, and accuse him of fleeing the state, you know? He could get in a lot of trouble for this."

"Saria, I don't know if I'm able to stay here. I've… I vanished for a few seconds yesterday."

She stared at him in alarm, her eyes going very wide. "You vanished?"

"Right before my eyes," Zelda said, staring into her mug. "Just for an instant."

"Why is that happening?"

Link shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even understand how I got here." He sighed and stared into his drink. "Honestly, I don't believe I will ever understand it."

"We have a theory that maybe our universe is trying to decide what to do with him, in a way." Zelda straightened her shoulders. "Either that he is going to become the same Link that is here, in the way that I have become this Zelda, or he… won't exist any more."

Saria looked at Zelda for several seconds, staring hard. "You… believe him?" Her tone was that of surprise at Zelda's turn-around, not that of finding her foolish.

Zelda nodded. "I do, completely." She swirled the coffee around in its mug, looking into its depths. "When he goes back… I will go with him."

Saria tilted her head a little bit. "You think that is wise?"

"Yes, absolutely I do. I am the reason he is here at all. I must go back. I…" Zelda tucked a lock of lost hair behind one ear. "I heard Zelda on the other end of that phone call, yesterday. I don't know who I am, who I'm supposed to be… where I'm supposed to be."

Saria nodded in understanding, and she looked at Zelda. "You look different already. I don't know how, but there's something different about you."

Link finished his coffee and let the heat seep throughout his bones.

"What do you want to do for the rest of the day?" Zelda asked.

Link shook his head. "Not sure. Is there someone that maybe we can talk to about… that may have some theories on how we can get back, or even that they may be able to cast some understanding on this occurrence. If we can understand it, we can undo it."

Zelda looked at Saria, who half-heartedly shrugged, and said, "Maybe… Dr. Varti…? She's a professor of spirituality and religions at the school."

"But is this a spiritual matter?" Zelda countered. "Is it … some form of magic, or isn't it physics? Wormholes, string theory, that sort of thing. Something to do…"

Saria shook her head. "It could be both."

"So why don't we talk to both of them?" Link asked.

"Kind of the only choice we have," Zelda muttered.

"So, which is first? Physics or spirituality?" Saria asked.

"Well," Link started, "this has been a strange few days. Maybe to hear something based in sciences might help to make the situation easier to understand."

"So… physics first."

Zelda offered to drive to the college, and Saria offered Link the front seat. They didn't talk much as they drove over. Link had only, so far, seen the arboretum, and he was surprised at the size of the place, the multiple buildings. Zelda pulled up to one she deemed the "sciences building", and she parked in the lot before the building.

"Dr. Frond is one of the physics professors here; we'll try him first. I think he's the one with visiting hours…" Zelda murmured, as they headed into the massive brick building. A small marquee chart on the wall indicated that, indeed, Frond was having visiting hours, and his office was on the second floor.

"Welcome, welcome!" a cheery old voice called when they knocked, and Link vaguely recognized the skeletal old man, in a blue suit. He waved them in, gesturing to the singular chair before his desk.

"I apologize, usually I only see one visitor at a time, so I am ill-prepared. And… I don't think I know any of you, either….?

"Ah, no, professor. We are… doing some research, just something independent, and we were wondering if we could talk to you for a few minutes?" Zelda spoke up, taking the chair and folding her hands primly.

Dr. Frond raised his eyebrows. "Really! Independent observers. I certainly hope this doesn't change the outcome of your research." He chuckled, but the joke was lost on his guests.

"Well—" began Zelda, "we were wondering if you could tell us about… is there something, like parallel universes that can be… connected by… in some way, where a person can walk through them?"

Frond pondered this, and slowly nodded his head. "There are many such theories; there is the idea that by making different choices in life, we create alternate realities. Even things as little as having toast compared to going without breakfast at all, can create multiple alternate realities. Who are we to say these realities cannot overlap, with thin spots that they can pass through?"

"Can these manifest anywhere?" Link asked suddenly. "Like in caves?"

Unseen, Zelda frowned a little, a crease forming in her brow.

"Absolutely anywhere!" Frond cried, gesturing with his hands. "Why, that very chair could be directly next to a thin spot in our universe, leading to a completely separate reality!"

"But what if… the time is different? One place is… horses and farms and monarchies, another is… cars and skyscrapers."

"Well, that's more along the lines of time travel; of going from one year to another. But that is more of a sci-fi topic yet. We are working on it, but so far we have, unfortunately, fallen short of that goal."

"But say that… that by sidestepping into a reality, in a cave or something, and it's the future… can that happen?" Link ran his fingers back through his hair.

Frond sighed, thinking. "We cannot, to this day, understand the intricacies of physics. This may be possible, but it is something that we still do not know. I must ask, what exactly is this research for?"

"A movie."

"A thesis paper."

"Personal curiosity."

Frond looked oddly at the three rumpled adults standing in his office, and they fell quiet.

"So say that…" Link started, breaking the awkward silence, "that you're walking along, and you fall through a thin spot, one of these… thin… spots. And it's so different, you notice right away. Is there any way to get back?"

"And you could pinpoint the spot, this thin spot," the professor asked.

"Yes."

"Well, you might be able to, and you might not. The universe is ever expanding, bigger and bigger, and what was once a thin spot may now not be. There is no way to tell if these thin spots stay static."

Link nodded in understanding.

"Is there any way to create a thin spot in the universe? Or any… documented people having traveled through one such thin spot?" asked Saria, tilting her head.

"Unfortunately, that is beyond our knowledge. If anyone has traveled through such a spot, they have yet to return to tell us."

There was a knock at the door, and a scrawny, spectacled boy peeked in, opening the door. "Oh- uh-professor, sorry. Ummm… had some questions about…?

"Yes, of course. I apologize, my guests, but I do have some students to attend to."

"Of course, of course," Zelda said with a faint smile, standing from her chair. "Thank you for your time, doctor."

They filed out, the student standing aside to let them pass.

"Well, should we go to spirituality?" Link asked, looking around.

"I don't see how much more helpful it can be," Saria muttered.

"We're here on campus, we might as well try," said Zelda.

Link was surprised to see the girls heading back to the car. "Uhh, aren't we…?"

"The religion studies classes are part of the history curriculum. That building's on the wrong end of campus," Zelda called to his confused face. "Trust me, we'll need to drive."

"Goddesses," he muttered, as they crawled through the traffic on the streets cutting through the college space, "this place is enormous." He stared at the stately buildings, some completely alien and reminiscent of the city, others obviously older and a little more familiar in terms of structure and design.

"No colleges in your world?" Saria asked, jokingly. "Makes me glad I'm not going. I'm practically a lifer."

"Well, maybe there's no colleges _yet_," Zelda emphasized. "I mean, they don't even have cars, right?"

Link looked around. "The only stuff I've recognized reliably here has been the plant life, what little there is."

"And us," Saria piped up.

"Well, of course," he replied.

They pulled up to the religions building, one of the older ones in brick with columns and other such hallmarks of a stately, prestigious hall of learning.

"Dr. Varti's office…" Saria muttered aloud as they paused in front of the marquee that displayed relevant information. Link read over her shoulder (well, with their comparative heights, more over her head), and nodded his head slightly to himself. Because really, why not?

"Yes, there we are. Nabooru Varti, 306."

"Come in," called a stately and deep voice, shortly after Saria knocked on the door.

They walked in as requested, Link being the last one, and Nabooru looked at them in surprise and puzzlement over rectangular lenses perched on her nose.

"And what can I do for you?" she asked, folding her hands on her desk. Zelda and Saria sat down in the chairs before her desk, Link standing behind against the wall.

"We are working on a screenplay of sorts, and it involves exploring different aspects of astral travel, between universes specifically," Zelda explained.

Nabooru nodded and thought for a few minutes. "Well, there is nothing concrete, but most religions do make some sort of reference to the soul leaving the body and returning. On a higher level, this is essentially reincarnation; the soul comes back, sometimes to a different vessel. There are some mystics who are able to replicate this effect, or claim they can; they leave their physical bodies and travel on different planes of existence as spirits."

"Okay, but there's nothing about using this power to travel to a different universe."

"Well, yes and no, I suppose. These separate universes would be the higher planes of existence; I doubt they would resemble anything close to what we currently inhabit."

"Say that there are multiple universes like ours," Saria asked, "would it be possible to will yourself to travel between them?"

"Perhaps not willing yourself directly, but supposedly there are stories of people going missing with no trace; some right before other people's eyes. They simply vanish, as if they sidestepped into a different plane."

"What about… is there anything about encountering yourself on a different plane of existence?"

Nabooru nodded. "The doppleganger. There's nothing to account for the background, but this is a situation where you encounter yourself, whether at a distance or directly. Some believe it to be an ill omen of death soon approaching, or even a malicious spirit trying to take your place by becoming you."

Link felt a powerful headache coming on as the women chatted. At the same time, his fingers went slightly numb, and his vision decreased to a narrow field before him. This time, he could _tell_that there was a memory trying to get through, and he fought it this time, resisting whatever wanted in his mind so badly with every ounce of strength he could summon. But as he fought, he could feel tugging, deep in his chest, as if something was trying to rip out his very soul. For a few seconds his vision went blank; not that he couldn't see, but that he couldn't see _anything_. His eyes felt wide open but he stared upon a great, terrible nothingness.

Then he was staring at a horrid pattern of yellows, blues and reds scattered over a deep brown background, and as his eyes refocused he realized he was staring at the thin, rough carpet of Nabooru's office in extreme closeup. He coughed and gagged, his stomach clenching and unclenching as he retched. Hands were on his back and helping him to stand again, and as he slowly got to his feet, he could feel the memories imprinting themselves in his mind. A ring, a question, an excited answer, the celebrations, dancing, talking about buying houses, having kids.

Link shook himself out of the memory and Saria was helping him stand, Zelda nearby with her eyes huge, Nabooru in the background behind her desk looking shocked, as if one of the girls had slapped her.

"Link, are you okay?" Saria asked urgently. He looked at her, then Zelda in a daze.

"I… Ruto and I were engaged?"

"Uh, professor, I'm sorry but we have to go." Zelda was talking quickly. "Our friend has spells, dizzy spells, and he sometimes loses consciousness. He'll be fine, no need to call the… ER—" she held out one hand to stop Nabooru from reaching for the phone.

She wrapped her arm around Link's waist, putting his arm across her shoulders. Link stumbled along with her, the feeling of being part of the solid ground in this world not quite clicking for a few steps. Saria rushed and got the door, opening it.

"Thank you again for your time, you've been very helpful," she called out as Zelda hauled Link out into the hallway.

Once he was able to stand on his own, they headed for the stairs, walking quickly.

"Did he disappear again?" Saria asked in a loud whisper.

"I don't know, my back was to him. I assume so; Professor Varti's jaw dropped and she stopped talking."

"Shit," Saria groaned.

"Whatever this is, it's starting to speed up," Zelda muttered angrily.

"But those conversations were of little help," Link hissed. "A lot of high-minded ideas, but nothing concrete that can help us."

"Honestly, I don't know that there's anything that can help," Zelda said in a normal tone; they were outside now, and there were few people on campus. "What exactly happened?"

"I could feel a memory coming on, and I wanted to resist it. Not one of my original memories, one of _his_. I blacked out, I suppose. It was as if I was torn, ripped from this earth, and I was surrounded with the blank space between the stars. That was all I saw, just an open bleakness of nothing. It… it startled me so badly that the memories got in. That is when I came to."

Link could not bring himself to use the word 'scared'.

"Goddesses," muttered Saria, shaking her head.

They climbed into the car, Link opting for the back seat, in case he should feel ill again. There were a few old crumpled paper bags, fast food and the like, scattered around. They crunched under his feet.

There was silence in the car for several minutes.

"… so were we engaged?" he asked again.

"… yes," Saria answered slowly.

Zelda's hand creaked on the steering wheel.

"What happened?" All he knew was the actual engagement, nothing around it that he could connect.

Saria glanced at Zelda, who was silent and watching the road as if expecting a catastrophe.

"… you and Ruto met at a party. This was… third year of high school. You guys dated for a few years, and second or so year of college, I think, you proposed. Well, she accepted. But! But—" Saria again looked at Zelda then turned to face Link in the backseat.

"But. From what I heard from… you, you proposed because you guys weren't getting along so well. She was getting huge into partying, and you were starting to calm down because you wanted to get into the military to continue to fund your education, and you wanted a good record. She also kind of… resented that you were going to sign up. But after the proposal, fights got worse, because you still wanted to enlist and she didn't want you to and wanted to get married by such and such day, and after three or so months you guys broke off the engagement in a huge fight, and she kicked you out of your shared apartment." Saria ran her fingers through her hair. "So I'm not entirely a stranger to harboring your homeless butt."

Link looked at the back of Zelda's head, then caught her eye in the rearview mirror. She looked away sharply.

"A week later, you met Zelda."

"Re-met, really," Zelda spoke suddenly in a calm voice. "We'd been close off and on throughout school, and we drifted apart in college because of Ruto's circle, and your relationship."

"But… you're part of Ruto's circle? I thought?"

"Only because she sees me as being betrayed by the same man who broke her heart. She's told me several times that we're better off without you. She loathed me all through our relationship."

Link looked out the window at the passing cars, feeling guilty for something he did not do.

"Wait, stop here," he instructed, recognizing a little restaurant as they drove. Zelda slowed as best as she could, and pulled over into a parallel space.

"What is it?" Saria called out. Link scrambled out of the car and got onto the sidewalk, heading back to the restaurant and looking around. He couldn't see anything to indicate a hole he had fallen through; the sky looked quite closed. He headed down an alley that ran next to the restaurant, but all he found was trash and debris, and overturned milk crates stacked near a small metal door, with a coffee can full of sand and cigarette butts on the other side. He paced around a few times, but nothing happened; he was not swallowed back up by the earth.

Saria had followed him out of the car and was standing at the entrance to the alley, looking at him in worry. He shook his head as he walked back out, pausing and sidling around Saria.

"Nothing, nothing there. No way to get home."

"It must be as Dr. Frond said; the thin spot moved."

"But it doesn't make sense; I did not get to the place Zelda fell in until hours after she was lost. They even sent a few men in to search and none of them vanished. What was so different about myself to call that spot back and… and step through it?"

Saria shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe you and your Zelda shared a connection that held the portal open until you could get through."

Link rubbed the back of his left hand and sighed. "Maybe." He followed Saria back to Zelda's car, and they headed to Saria's place.

"Is there anything you'd like to do?"

It was Zelda asking, and they were again sitting in Saria's apartment, but this time they were waiting around for pizza, and the ladies had assured Link several times over that it was delicious and he would like it.

Link shook his head. "No, not really."

"My only thought is that, you know, since you can't get home, maybe you should… just enjoy it until we find some way to get you there?"

Saria nodded in agreement. "I mean, yeah I guess it's probably scary out there to someone new, but maybe if you stick with us and…"

"No illicit substances," Zelda quickly filled in with a bit of a smirk, "you'll survive."

Link shook his head. "I'm not so sure about that; it seems the more time I spend with you, the more memories I gain."

"Oh." Zelda looked away. Saria seemed to bristle all over, and she stared at Link across the table.

"You know, it's not as if you don't make me remember things I want to forget," she snapped suddenly, whipping her head back around.

What he'd said washed over Link in a sudden sharp awareness, and he reached out for Zelda's shoulder, but she swatted his hand away.

"What I meant by the statement is that I don't want to become this other me, the one that you hate so much," Link tried to explain. "I want to be who I am."

"Well so far, you're doing an awful job of that." Zelda had clenched one hand into a fist, and looked ready to strike him with it. Link leaned back a little.

"Oh look, it sounds like the pizza's here," Saria rambled quickly, and she slipped out of the apartment door to go pick it up at the front door.

"Would it really be so bad to stay here?" Zelda asked. "Truly? I mean surely, if your world is as medieval as it sounds, then won't you be better off?"

Link shook his head. "Did you forget everything we talked about before? I'm not the important one here, you are. I can't go home, and more importantly, I won't go home without you. I cannot leave you behind. That is the only reason I don't want to remember everything we have been through; because I don't want to forget my duty to you and your people. To protect you and see you through all things."

Zelda nodded in understanding. "Just… don't be such a prick about it, alright?" She offered him a half-hearted smile, and Link nodded in return.

They sat for a few more minutes, waiting for Saria's return, and Zelda finally stood. "I might as well get some plates for the pizza," she said, heading into the kitchen.

"Wait—" Link started to say. Zelda stopped and turned.

"Maybe… we could do something tonight. Just something low-key, nothing too dramatic."

Zelda shrugged. "We'll see."

She was coming back with plates when Saria reentered her apartment, carrying the steaming pizza boxes and setting them down on the little round kitchen table.

"Here we are," she declared, "food fit for queens."

Link did, in fact, enjoy their meal. He wondered if they would find a way to make something similar if he and Zelda returned to Hyrule. When they had their fill, Saria wrapped up the last slices and put them in the fridge, then handed round some beers. She led them to the couch where they slumped down, Link's stomach groaning uncomfortably, and flipped through the channels until she came to what Link discovered was a poorly-done play about an axe-wielding madman stalking people, with elaborate sets and special effects.

"There's a murderer on the loose and she's investigating a noise alone? In her undergarments?" he asked, bewildered, gesturing with one hand.

"Should we take bets on who goes first?" Saria asked casually.

Zelda snorted. "She's going to; she's running around in her underwear and she just got done banging her boyfriend. These movies always follow that pattern."

"So what's the point of this story?" Link asked.

"To scare people," Saria said, before tipping up her beer.

"Does it work?"

"Not really." Zelda shook her head.

A sudden shriek from the television, and the near-naked girl was cleaved in two by the axe murderer.

"Told you," Zelda murmured with a grin.

When the movie ended, Zelda stood up. "I should get going; head home and lay down and all that."

"Are you okay to drive?" Saria asked. "You can always stay here."

"I'm fine, I only had one." She smiled and went to pull on her coat. "Maybe tomorrow night we can go out somewhere instead."

"Shall I escort you to your car?" Link offered.

"Actually, that would probably be a good idea," Zelda said as she stuffed her feet into her shoes. Link pulled on his boots and followed her out.

Zelda descended the stairs first, one hand resting gently on the railing. Link watched the top of her head as they walked down. He managed to sneak ahead of her and hold the front door open for her, and they walked in silence down the sidewalk to her car.

"Link," she said finally, hesitating at the driver's side door.

"Yes?" He took a slight step back.

She looked at him and smiled a little bit, tucking some hair behind one ear. "Um… try not to disappear anymore, okay? I think I prefer having you around, regardless of what I remember or… think I remember."

"I will try, but it is not something I can control."

Zelda shrugged her shoulders. "Then… let the memories in." She climbed in her car, and Link looked at her through the glass, a little confused. Zelda started the engine and gave him a little wave before pulling out into the road, heading to her apartment.

Link watched after her car until the tail lights were indistinguishable.


	5. Hardstyle

He was unsure how he'd gotten roped into it, but once again Link was following Saria and Zelda into a crowded nightclub. Denno was leading them as usual, his bulk parting the crowds, and Ruto was right behind Link, touching his back lightly now and again to let him know she was still there. Again, they went for a booth to sit in. This club's seating was a little different; its booths were more enclosed, with higher surrounding walls. They could hide quite easily in them. Once again, Ruto handed around a little baggy of chewable pills. Link paused when it came to him, and Zelda put one hand on his arm to reassure him. "Nothing bad will happen to you; I'll be right here. We'll keep an eye on you. If you want to just take half, we can split one."

Reluctantly, he picked one out. He couldn't be certain, but it looked to have the soaring phoenix crest stamped into its surface. Carefully, he bit it in half, and handed the second over to Zelda. She plucked it from between his fingers and chewed it up, taking a swig from a water glass. Ruto pulled Denno out onto the dance floor, and Saria checked over the last two in their party.

"Are you guys okay if I go to dance?"

Both of them nodded, and Link was certain that this stuff was stronger; already his head felt floaty and unbalanced. Nodding was an odd sensation, and he continued to do so for several minutes after Saria left, leaving a trail of faint green light.

"We should go out there," Zelda shouted over the music. Link looked at her, and her skin was brilliant. She stared at him with huge eyes, and gasped a little. He knew that she could see it on him. She reached out with her left hand and touched his cheek, and looked at her hand with fascination. "How is this possible?" she asked him.

Link shook his head. "I don't know."

Zelda looked at her hands, turning them over and focusing on the left one. "What does this mean?" she asked, pointing to the three triangles on her hand.

"It means you carry part of the holy relic!" he shouted back. "Would that I could take you home right now!"

"How do you mean that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Link frowned; how else could he mean it? "Getting back to Hyrule, of course."

Zelda laughed and looked out towards the dance floor. "Can we dance? Do you want to?"

Could he, in this state? He would find out; she was pulling him along by the hand, and their golden auras seemed to sing where they overlapped, becoming brighter. They went out into the throng, and everyone had a glow, he could now see. Some were brighter than others, but he could tell that theirs were brightest of all. Link held onto Zelda, not wanting to lose her. But how could he? She would be easily visible to him, no matter what. She stopped when she felt they were in an open enough space, and started dancing. Like usual, Link was hesitant to move with her. The beat was easy enough to find, it was in his bones, in his feet, in his head. Zelda pulled him in, and tried to help him learn their moves. He was miserable at it.

Zelda's hands moved to his face, and now they were staring into each other's eyes. Link could hear her breathing, he would swear later that he could hear her thoughts, but maybe they were his own, confused and jumbled so that he did not recognize them. Zelda gently put their foreheads together, and closed her eyes. Even though he didn't think he was moving very much, they were both slightly glossy with sweat. There was a brief jolt of a memory where they'd been in similar sweaty conditions, but not in the middle of a nightclub, and completely alone. Apparently, Zelda had also had a memory jolt, which surprised him; he figured she'd have all the memories she needed by now. But instead, she leaned in.

"Did we ever dance together over there?"

"Not often," he replied. "Very rarely. I'm a miserable dancer everywhere. At your coronation, maybe."

They continued to dance—well, at least, Link stood near Zelda with a hand on her waist and bobbing his head while _she_ danced—for a while, until Zelda shook her head and pointed towards the bar, lit up in neon. "Water!" she shouted, and Link followed her off the floor. She received a plastic cup full of ice water and sucked it down, sweeping her hair back out of her eyes as best she could.

"Coronation?" she shouted randomly, and Link looked at her. He had been trying not to think about her for a little while now, because that memory, one of _his_ memories, no doubt, had left Link feeling more than a little uncomfortable.

"Uhh… yes."

"But that's when the king and queen are crowned, right?"

"Yes, whenever the new monarch is crowned."

Zelda was silent for a few minutes. "So… over there… my dad is dead?"

Link cleared his throat. "Yes."

Zelda leaned against the bar, picking at her nails. Though she still had a glow, she seemed troubled. "How'd he die?"

"They're not sure; his heart gave out." He also ordered a water while Zelda mulled this over.

"My father—the one here, I mean. He had a heart attack a few years back. Had to get a double bypass. But they got him to the hospital in time."

She sniffed a bit. "You drove me to the hospital that morning."

Link could remember the great king's passing still, but he hadn't alerted Zelda to her father's death. He'd been out in the fields practicing, and only found out later when they were tolling the mourning bells, the ones with the deepest sound.

Zelda finished her water and set the cup back down on the bar. Link drank the rest of his as quickly as he could, and he followed her back out to the dance floor. But her heart wasn't in it, and she left the floor after not too long. Link almost didn't notice, but Saria came bounding up and asked him where Zelda was going. He followed her aura but was stopped when she went into a hall leading to the ladies' room, and he waited ten feet or so from the hallway, trying to reach out for her with his mind. It was a foolish idea; they were connected but not psychic, and it didn't work. After a few minutes of waiting, Ruto approached him, and touched his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Zelda's in the rest room; we were talking about her father and she got upset."

Ruto nodded and walked past him, heading into the ladies' room.

"Zelda?" she called out, not having to shout as loudly. The little room was well-insulated.

Zelda turned around. She was standing near a sink, the water running and a bundle of toilet tissue in her hands.

"Oh, Ruto." She nodded a little.

"Your eyes are all red, are you okay?" Ruto put one hand on her shoulder, concerned.

Zelda gasped a little; for a brief second, she could see Ruto as she was in Zelda's true time, and it was alarming.

"Ah—ah, yeah. I'm… we just were talking about my dad and I got kind of upset."

Ruto nodded understandingly. "Come on, let's wash your face with cold water." She took a few paper towels from the dispenser on the wall, dipping them into the running tap and patting at the red spots on Zelda's face.

The two women were silent as Ruto helped out her sort-of friend.

She threw out the towels and went to grab fresh ones, running them under the cold water.

"Ruto, do you still hate me?" Zelda asked quietly.

Ruto didn't answer immediately, wringing out the excess water. "No," she finally answered, in a light tone. "I never really hated you. Jealous? Of course. But never hate."

"Good," Zelda replied, after a pause. "Because…"

"You're still in love with him." Ruto snapped.

"It's only been six months, Ruto. I can't even remember why we broke up. Maybe it was something stupid. I think I should give him another chance."

"What's the point? What if he just leaves again, how do you even know if he wants you back?"

"The only way to know is to ask." Zelda narrowed her eyes, suspicious. "You want him back, don't you?"

Ruto threw the soggy towels at Zelda. "You stole him from me, I want a second chance!"

"I didn't steal anything, Ruto! You broke up with him, if I remember correctly!"

"He wouldn't come to his senses!"

"Do you think you'll be able to change him? To mold him into the man you want?"

"Do you?"

"So…"

A new voice; reluctant and clearly uncomfortable. Ruto and Zelda turned, staring at Saria, who shifted from foot to foot.

"I was asked to come in and see why you two were taking so long. But I see now that you're both just digging up old news." She cleared her throat. "How about both of you drop it, and leave him alone? He's not even the right Link to fight over."

Reluctantly, the three of them left the restroom.

"Denno, I'm tired. I think I want to go home," Ruto muttered.

"You sure? It's not even two…" the towering man put a concerned hand on Ruto's shoulder.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting sick or something," Ruto lied easily.

Zelda shrugged her shoulders. "Me too."

Saria sighed. "Fine. I'll drop you guys off at Zelda's apartment. Link, I'll come pick you up when I'm done having my own fun. Or I'll crash there, maybe."

Zelda nodded. "Of course. Oh—Ruto, can I bum another couple…?"

Ruto narrowed her eyes slightly, but handed over the little bag, nearly empty of pills. "Sure."

Zelda fished out two at random, tucking them into her pocket. "Thanks."

Link frowned a little, he felt they'd done enough, though the glow was starting to fade. Zelda walked over to him and Saria, nodding. "Okay, let's go."

All were silent on their way to Zelda's, except for Saria's rusting muffler rattling around at the back of the car. The silence stretched on as she dropped them off in front of the building, and she gave a casual wave.

"I'll call you if anything changes," she said to Zelda, who nodded. They watched Saria drive off, and Zelda looked at Link and gave a little shrug.

"It's wearing off, isn't it?" she asked.

He nodded. "Much sooner this time."

"That's why I grabbed extras from Ruto; it's so overwhelming in a club, I'd rather do this sort of thing at home if it's going to give us this effect."

"What is it supposed to do in a nightclub?" Link asked, as they got inside and started for the elevator.

"It's just supposed to make you feel euphoric and light, energetic. That sort of thing. I've never had visual hallucinations on it."

"And this is even taking it after … our breakup?"

"Well… I hadn't taken any since then, actually. Took me a while to get back into it. I guess maybe I just didn't want to feel happy for some time. Wallow in my misery, lay around in bed and feel good and sorry for myself for a few months."

They left the elevator and Zelda fished out her keys, unlocking the apartment door.

"And I did do just that, once everyone told me… well, pieced it together for me." She shook her head, locking the door back up once they were inside.

"It just feels so unreal to me, that everything about the past few months has been a lie. I am torn between believing you and pushing it all to one side. Every once in a while though, being around you, I remember… something that I don't think is from this place." She sat down on the couch and Link joined her.

"You remember things?" he asked, surprised.

"In the roughest sense, yes. Little things; I'm in a huge building made of stone with animal rugs on the floor, talking to a crowd of men in fancy dress, or, when you mentioned my father, I could hear the tolling bells and I could see myself in my coronation dress. It was deep red, wasn't it? With gold trim."

"Yes, it was, I think."

"Being with you like this… I'm remembering everything. This must be similar to what you feel when you remember something that isn't yours."

"It's possible, but these are yours. They always were. They're just coming back."

Zelda took the little pills out of her pocket and handed Link one, placing it in the center of his palm.

"I like what I see with you," she said softly, putting the other pill into her mouth and chewing. After a few seconds of hesitation, Link took the remaining pill.

Zelda went to her kitchen and came back with two glasses of water, handing one to him. He drank most of it in his first sip, and set it down on the little coffee table in front of them.

"Is it different, somehow?" he asked. "What you see?"

"The… well, seeing the auras is new, we've established that. That is certainly different. But it's more than just that, it's a feeling. How can I describe…" she paused, thinking. "A feeling of being not quite right. Or of being in a strange country and then when you're there, meeting someone who knows your language. But when I'm sober, it goes away. Or maybe it's just not as obvious." She sighed and took a drink of her water. Link leaned back into the couch and watched the watery fuzzy auras lining his fingers sharpen and expand.

"Are there any substances like this over there?" Zelda asked suddenly. Link looked at her, and she was staring at her hands as well.

"I will warn you, you're not much for… creative recreation," he said with a little smirk.

"But I imagine there probably are, we just don't know about it."

Link shrugged. "It's possible. I know the few berserkers in our military eat… _something_ odd before we go to war. It makes them froth at the mouth, and they become almost unstoppable."

"Hm. I suppose it's no big loss then; probably plenty more to keep me entertained. Can I maintain my studies? It's not a completely backwards 'women are inferior' sort of place, is it?"

Link raised his eyebrows. "Well… I don't see why not. You'd be perfectly capable of studying. You do that a great deal of the time anyway; there was a lot your father never got a chance to tell you about."

"What else can I do? Besides sending thieves to the guillotine, I mean."

He laughed. "You never send anyone to the guillotine."

"Oh, don't I?" Zelda smiled. "Are they too scared of my Knight in Arms to cross me?"

"No, it's your last resort. Zelda, you'll be fine. Once we get back, I'm confident you'll pick it back up."

"I hope so."

They fell silent, watching the glow around their fingertips flicker like candle flames.

"So… what else do we do?"

"Do you mean right now?"

"I mean over there."

"Well… I like fishing, and archery. Horseback rides, things like that."

"And me?"

"I can't really say; we don't spend a lot of time together."

Zelda shifted and leaned against him slightly, their shoulders together. "Maybe we should change that."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea… we're very different people. We have different interests."

Zelda moved off him. "Are you in love with me over there? Is that why you push me away?"

Link was rather caught off-guard. He stared at Zelda. "What?"

She ran her fingers back through her hair. "You just seem so reserved, it's a chore to get anything out of you. Is that just how you are?"

"Uh… I… suppose… I apologize if this offends you. It's custom there."

"Do I go to balls often? Like, with waltzes and fancy dresses?"

"There's been a couple, I guess."

Zelda nodded her head. "Next one then, I want you to go with me. I don't care who I usually take, I want you to go."

"Why?" Link was puzzled. "I'm not a good dancer at all."

"Because here, I feel like we're allowed to be closer, friendlier with each other, you know? Over there, we're going to have to follow a bunch of arbitrary rules, where I can't go anywhere alone, things like that. If I can be close to you now, how I'd want to be over there, then I'd rather do so while I can."

"But you aren't yourself; any affections you're feeling for me can be the result of this other Zelda's memories. Don't make a choice you might regret when we get home."

Zelda smiled a little bit. "I don't think they are."

"How can you tell?"

She shrugged. "I just know. And what do you mean I'd regret it?"

Link floundered. "Well, in case you were to find a king and he were to find that uh…"

"Are you hinting to me that I have to stay a virgin until marriage?"

He didn't respond, instead choosing to look away.

"You said your time doesn't have such archaic beliefs!"

"I did not, you assumed so! And that's how it is!"

"And who are you to assume that I'd sleep with you anyway? Like I'm that easy!" Zelda smacked him in the shoulder.

"I didn't mean to imply anything negative, it… I've had certain memories where we've… been intimate, and I wanted to keep you from feeling any pressure. About us. If there is an 'us'. I just didn't know if you'd had these same memories and… wanted to act on them."

Zelda sighed. "Well, I certainly don't now." She wriggled into the far corner of the couch, folding her arms. Link watched their auras swirl and bob for a little while, letting his mind drift. Part of him sort of liked that about this place; he was able to do that. He didn't constantly have to be on his guard.

"I'm going to make some changes when I get home," Zelda muttered, as if in afterthought.

"Oh?" Link looked at her. She was deep in thought.

"Yes. Some things I will want done differently."

"They might be unpopular with the people," he suggested.

She shrugged. "I'm the queen. I at least get a little power, right? Everyone does what I say?"

"Well, unless the idea is terribly unpopular." Link offered her a smile, to show her he was just teasing now. "Then it goes to committee."

She laughed a little, then nodded. "At least there's someone to keep me in check. But yes, I'm going to make changes…" She stood up and went to her room, coming back after a few minutes with a pen and a pad of paper, and started writing.

"I hate to ask, but is there anything to eat?" Link asked her.

"Um… there might be… check the fridge."

He looked, and settled for yogurt. Zelda was busily writing herself notes, and had already torn off a few pages already.

"What are you writing?" he asked as he settled back onto the couch. The auras had dimmed considerably, but were now staying at a faint glimmer around the edges of things.

"Changes that I will want to make when we get home."

Curious, Link picked up the top page. In a frantic scrawl that he could barely read, it read:

Queens shall not be forced to while aaway the prime years of their youth restran restraining themselves for the benefit of a male sco society! They shall be allowed to be with whoever they wish REGARDLESS of their virginal status!

"Um…" he started. "Don't you think this is a little strong?"

"No, I don't." Her eyes were ablaze. "This is something very important to me, and I want my stance to be clear."

Gently, Link reached over and plucked the pen from Zelda's hand. She reached for it at first, and glared at him.

"Maybe sober up a little, and rewrite in the morning," he offered. "If you're this passionate, I doubt it will go away after a little sleep."

Zelda sighed, and her eyes drifted to Link's snack. "Yogurt?"

"It seemed… safe."

"Come on."

Zelda got up and went to the apartment phone in the kitchen, grabbing a take-out menu from a drawer nearby and flipping it open. She dialed a number rapidly, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder. "Order for delivery, please."

An hour later, both of them had eaten their fill on the food Zelda had ordered; spicy dishes she referred to as 'curry'. He recognized some of the flavors; it reminded him of food from Termina. The auras had more or less faded for the night, that or they were being overpowered by the sun's rays as it started to rise. They had stayed up and talked about all sorts of subjects; Zelda's studies, Link's military strategy, little things.

The two of them had started with little yawns, but soon it was to the point where Zelda couldn't stop, and she held up one hand. "I've got to go to bed," she murmured, standing up off the couch and stretching. "Do you need a blanket or anything for out here?"

"Actually, that'd be a good idea."

He followed her down the hall and she opened a door which he'd thought was a room, but turned out to be a little linen closet. She handed over a heavy down comforter.

"Any pillows?"

"Nah, I'll be okay." He smiled at her in reassurance, and patted the blanket with one hand. They stood awkwardly for a second in the hallway, until Zelda finally forced herself to turn.

"Good night," she called out as she entered her bedroom, closing the door until it was ajar by an inch or two.

"Good night," he responded, though with the sun coming through the windows, it sounded absurd. Finally, he turned and climbed onto the couch, realizing that he was quite tired, after all.

A few hours later, there was a knocking on the door, and Link got up to check it out. It was Saria, looking rested and freshly-showered, and he let her in.

"You made it home alright last night?" he asked, though it seemed a silly question.

"Yeah, I didn't stay out much longer after you guys left, I just went home and slept." She went and plopped down on the couch, leaving room for Link. "Did you guys end up doing anything?"

"No, we sat in and talked."

Saria eyed the remains of their late-night meal still cluttering the coffee table. "What did you guys talk about?"

"Eh, about how to get home, about customs she might have to… readjust to."

A scrap of paper under a plate had caught Saria's eye, and she pulled it free, looking it over. Link recognized the lettering but doubted Saria could read it; the writing was Old Hylian. He thought that was very interesting, but didn't mention it. Saria laughed a little bit and put it back down.

"Well, it seems like Zelda isn't going to tear you apart any time soon. Maybe you don't need to hide out at my apartment all the time." She patted the couch, still warm under her hand. "You slept out here?"

"Yes, I'm… more comfortable."

Saria nodded. "Well, I just came by to see if you needed to head home any time soon or anything, but you look like you could use some sleep more. Any plans tonight?"

Link shook his head. "I'm not sure."

Saria stood up as did Link to walk her to the door, and she gave him a little hug. "I'll see you sometime soon, I hope."

He hugged her back. "Of course you will. Maybe we can go for dinner somewhere."

"Maybe." Saria left, heading home or to work, presumably. Link sat back down on the couch, but only for a second; he felt someone watching him. He lifted his head and stared down the hallway to Zelda's doorway, where she had poked her head out.

"Who was here?"

"Saria."

"Ah." She nodded and came shuffling out. "I heard you talking to someone, so I thought I'd investigate."

"Sorry if I woke you."

Zelda shrugged it off, and came over to sit beside him on the couch. "Do you want breakfast?"

"Ah… actually, I think I'm still full from what we had last night. It was very good."

Zelda smiled. "So'm I, I just didn't know how you felt." She surveyed the table. "Hm, I should probably pick this up."

"Would you like help?"

"Sure," she murmured.

Together, they tidied up the apartment, which didn't take too long. Zelda finished by wiping down the coffee table with cleaner, then replacing the little coasters and things.

"I'm not going to be too exciting for the day; I might sit and study for a while, unless there was something specific you wanted to do?"

"Not in particular," he replied with a shrug.

"Well, you can call Saria to go to her place, or… we can work out plans for dinner, all sorts of things. Or you can just stay here and watch TV."

In the end, Link chose to try and nap on Zelda's couch while she gathered together her books and notes, to study at the dining table near the bay windows of her apartment. He closed his eyes and let his mind drift, loosening his muscles and slowly relaxing. Faintly, as if from a great distance, he heard Zelda fiddling with her papers. Beyond that was a humming from outside himself; that grew louder and louder until his ears were ringing with it, followed by a bright light that expanded and brightened until he thought it could go no further.

The light winked out unexpectedly, and he was left with darkness for a few minutes. Dimly, he could hear whispers at the edge of his hearing; they grew sharper as he tried to focus.

"… believe she did that."

"I know! They just got engaged, too."

"Ridiculous."

"Honestly I'm not sure why he proposed; they weren't doing well."

"That marriage would've been a disaster."

Link opened his eyes; or maybe it was just that he finally had visuals to go with the talking. He looked around, recognizing Saria, with longer hair and a worried face, and Denno, looking worried and withdrawn. Unusual.

"Hey man, how you feelin?" Denno, bounding over, clapped Link on the back. "You've been out cold for a while."

Nausea rolled over Link in waves, and he flung himself off the couch, Saria's couch, he saw, and vomited into a conveniently placed trash can. Nothing but green bile came up, and his stomach ached. Apparently he'd been doing this for a while.

"It's alright man, work it up." Denno's firm hand rubbed across Link's shoulders.

When Link felt he was done, Saria came over with a glass of water. "Here. Drink it."

He did, the water horribly sweet. "Awful," he choked out.

"Do you need some ibuprofen or something, man?"

"Maybe in a bit, I don't know if I can keep anything down."

Denno helped Link to the bathroom. "Maybe try a warm shower or something."

"Not a bad idea," he conceded.

"Do you… remember anything of last night?"

Link sighed. "Ruto and I had a fight, and we decided it was over. Then I called up you and Saria and we went out."

"Yeah, that about sums it up."

Link groaned. "Remind me never to date anyone again." He rolled over to heave in the toilet—

and rolled off the couch and smacked his face on Zelda's coffee table on his way down.

She gasped in alarm and pulled off her headphones, dashing over to him.

"Link! Goddesses, are you okay?"

He was holding his nose, which was bleeding like crazy. Zelda ran to her bathroom and came back with a whole box of tissues, handing them over. Link held them to his nose and leaned his head back, swallowing the trickles of blood.

He held up one bleeding hand to Zelda to stop her from trying to help him further, wincing. She stood up, going instead to get a trash can and a wet cloth to wipe the blood off his face.

"Geez, you shoulda just dealt with it and slept in my bed," she grumbled.

Link looked at her and realized something suddenly.

"What are you wearing?" he asked, his voice nasally.

"What?" She peered at him.

He gestured to his own face.

"Oh!" Zelda reached up with one hand and touched the object resting on her nose—a pair of spectacles with oval lenses, lined in gold wire. "Oh, yeah, I wear glasses. For reading, mostly. Doesn't… you don't have them yet?"

"We do, I just…" He slowly sat up, and spit blood into the trash can, so he wouldn't get sick from swallowing it. "I guess… maybe it's something I didn't know about you." He threw the soaked tissues into the trash can and grabbed more, stuffing them into his nose, which looked ridiculous, but Zelda chose not to say it.

She stepped away for a bit, and came back with a bag of frozen vegetables, carefully laying them over his nose.

"Here, this'll help with swelling." She picked up the box of tissue and put them in Link's lap. After a few minutes, he carefully removed the ones in his nose and put in new ones, though he could tell the bleeding was stopping.

"I don't get to do this for you at home, do I?" she muttered.

"No, you're too busy and it'd be inappropriate… and I don't fall onto tables very often."

Zelda smiled a bit. "Well… at least we can be close here."

"It'll hurt more when we get back," he said suddenly, looking at her. "We won't be able to… do anything."

She nodded in understanding, her smile fading again. "It's going to be lonely over there for us."

Link shrugged. "We manage." He removed the tissues and noted that they weren't terribly bloody, and threw them away without replacing them.

"Were you having a bad dream?" Zelda asked.

"No, another memory. I'm not enjoying this. How were you able to accept the memories so easily?"

She shrugged this time. "It was the way everyone acted about it. I was surrounded by people who were telling me one thing I knew wasn't true. They thought I was crazy with grief. After a while, I believed them. And without anyone to tell me the memories weren't mine…" Carefully, she took away the bag of frozen vegetables. "Well, it doesn't look too bad, but we should probably leave it there longer, just in case. What was your memory about?"

"I… think it was the day after Ruto and… this world's Link broke up for good. All these weird little memories; they're important events I guess, but I don't want to remember them."

Zelda nodded in understanding.

"I can't stop these memories because I risk... not even death, worse than death; erasure. But they're teaching me nothing."

"You know…" Zelda paused, "sometimes when you bring up certain events, from our world, I remember them. Like, I get the headache, and if I let the memory in, I… can see it."

Link looked at her, his eyebrows raised. "You do?"

"Yes. But… not for long. It's a taste of the memory."

"Interesting," he murmured.

They settled in on the couch again. It was starting to become a habit.

"I guess, whenever we figure out how to get back, I may need glasses."

"Just bring those with you," Link said, touching one edge.

Zelda gently took them off and folded them up, setting them on the dangerous coffee table. She rubbed her stomach a little with her palm.

"How's your nose?"

"Feels okay."

"Okay enough to go out in public and eat?"

He chuckled. "We can just tell everyone I won a bar fight."

Zelda laughed. "That'll work, I guess."

She got up from the couch. "I'm gonna go change, then. I'll be out soon."

Link touched at his nose while she was gone and hissed in pain. It would take time to heal.

After lunch, which was sandwiches at a café, Zelda seemed struck with inspiration. They headed into the thick of the city, walking from what she called a 'parking garage'.

"It's immense here," Link said softly. "It's very intimidating."

"Somehow I can't see you being intimidated by anything," she said with a little laugh.

"If I was able to get familiar with the layout," he replied in his defense, "I wouldn't be so apprehensive."

"I can understand that; it's definitely a little shocking when you've never been in one before."

He pointed. "This shop here is an apothecary's."

"Ah?" Zelda looked at the drug store, focusing. "Yes… I can see it."

"And this here would have been a... well I guess it is still a butcher shop."

Zelda laughed, but as Link talked about it, she thought she could see a visage underneath the buildings. The butcher shop did not have a glass front, it was open, with a striped canopy overhead, from which open pigs and geese hung. She shivered a little, and Link gripped her arm slightly, his face open in surprise.

"Careful, you seemed to almost…"

"What?"

"You flickered a little," he whispered in her ear.

"What?" she asked again, but this time she realized what he was saying. "It's happening to both of us?"

"Careful. I won't let it happen to you."

"I don't think it's something we can control, is it?"

"Well..." Link realised that perhaps he would be unable to back up his previous statement, "not as far as I've noticed."

They lightened their moods (or tried) by going to see the massive fountain in the middle of the city. As they looked at it, Link reluctantly let in a memory of the two of them (different ones! the others!) sitting on the edge of the fountain at night and kissing. Zelda could get flickers of a memory; the fountain as it was in her true time, with the uneven cobble streets and children in raggedy clothes splashing in its waters. Even as the memories washed over her, she could feel something pulling at her, something that reached from beyond the buildings and sky and sucked at her sense of self inside that body. She reached out and grabbed Link, frightened, and he held onto her, pulling away from the memory he was reliving. He tugged on Zelda's hand and watched her snap into opacity—had she really vanished for a few minutes?

"Are you okay?" he asked her quietly.

"No… but I might've at least figured out how we get home."

"Oh? How's that?"

"It seems I'm pulled back to that time when I relive these memories. If you can hold onto me tight enough when I remember something, maybe I can pull you with me."

"Do you think that will work?"

"It might." But she had been a little alarmed at that feeling of being torn from the earth against her will, so she ran her fingers through her hair and dropped Link's hand. "I don't want to try right away, though. It's a very unsettling feeling, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it really is. Before we do anything, we should also let Saria know. She's done more for me than I can count, I at least owe her that."

"And Ruto?" Zelda asked quietly.

"… maybe. One last goodbye."

"I think she'll miss you more than me," Zelda said with a smile, nudging him.

"Well, I guess you did steal me from her twice."

"What?"

"Oh..." Link shook his head. "Nothing."

Zelda nudged him again, trying to push him around to face her.

"What do you mean by that? Do you like Ruto?"

"No, it's nothing. I mean, she's nice… but a little too intense for me."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "That's for sure." She huffed. "Is she like that at home?"

"More or less, but not as badly. I think it's because we're not together there."

"Well." Zelda folded her arms. "Should we go track down Saria?"

"Nah, let's… take our time. We can tell her at dinner."

They continued walking through Hyrule, though Link avoided comparing the city to the country. He didn't want her to be pulled away again just yet.

When they grew tired and their feet ached, they returned to Zelda's apartment. She grabbed a phone book and rifled through restaurants, picking a few at random and calling Saria to invite her over.

Zelda made Link call Ruto, and when she picked up, she sounded none too pleased until she recognized Link's voice.

"Dinner? Sounds awesome, where and when?"

"Ah, not sure yet. But we're having Saria meet us at Zelda's apartment, then we'll drive together."

"Oh, it's… everyone?"

Link hesitated. "Yes…"

Ruto sighed. "Okay, yeah, I guess I'll be over around six or so."

She hung up rather abruptly.

Saria showed up at around six, in her casual clothes and all smiles. There were hugs all around, then,

"So where are we eating at?"

"Hm, still not sure. I'm thinking either La Sfera, Agitha's, or maybe Elde?" said Zelda as she poured a few small glasses of white wine.

"Whoa, I'm kind of underdressed," Saria said with a nervous laugh.

"Nah, they'll let you in. You can always borrow a dress if you want?"

"Zel, they're not gonna fit me. But thanks."

Ruto finally turned up not too much later, shaking her hair back out of her face and hugging all as quickly as possible.

"So what's our decision?" she asked, sitting down on the couch and pouring herself some wine.

"We figure La Sfera, Agitha's, or Elde."

"Oooh, we should go to Elde." Ruto leaned back. "They have a wicked tagliatelle."

Saria smiled weakly. "Yeah, that sounds fine."

"Everything okay, Saria?" Link asked her quietly. She nodded.

"And it'll be my treat," Zelda threw in.

"Then I'm definitely getting the top-shelf wine," Ruto said with a laugh. It seemed after her initial irritation, she was calmed. Or maybe it was the offer of a free meal.

They gathered up their wine glasses and put them in the kitchen sink for washing later, and Zelda picked up her keys. Link was the last one out, and waited a bit for Zelda while she locked the door and they headed together down the hall to the elevator.

Elde was an intimidating place; it was all decorated in polished wood and chrome, with marble flooring and stamped tin ceilings.

They were sat at a table with cloth napkins and weighty silverware, two forks and all. The menu was one page, and there were no prices listed.

They ordered their food and lingered over it. Zelda encouraged everyone to order whatever they fancied. They chatted a little around the table about whatever they thought of, whatever came to mind. Ruto let the two be lured into a false sense of relief, that everything would go smoothly and nothing was out of the ordinary.

"So why are we out to dinner? And why are you paying for all of it, Zel?" She sipped from her wine glass, focusing her steely eyes on them.

Link paused in mid-chew, and Zelda delicately patted her mouth with her napkin. "Well, Ruto. Link and I might have found a way to get back, and we wanted to have one last celebration with all of you, as a way of saying thanks before we leave."

"Wait, you're seriously returning?" Saria set her fork down so that she did not drop it in astonishment.

"How do you do it?" Ruto leaned in.

"Well, we only have a theory for now," Zelda answered. "Having to do with the memories we've been sharing."

Saria raised her eyebrows. "You've been remembering things now?"

"Yes. Just little things, but… I've already been flickering." Zelda drank her wine to give herself pause and liquid bravery.

"Oh man, seriously?" Ruto was agog. "So you could go at any moment?"

"Quite possibly," Zelda muttered.

Saria focused her attention on Link, who'd been rather silent so far. "But Link, what about your trial? You can't just up and vanish, they'll put a warrant out for your arrest and might arrest the other Link!"

Zelda sighed. "Presumably, the other Link would have an airtight alibi, as well as different fingerprints and actual identification."

"But what if he doesn't?"

Zelda frowned. "How could he not?"

"Well, you're from a different dimension; who's to say that they couldn't have the same fingerprints?" She sighed and shook her dark hair. "I just think it would be best if you both stayed until after the trial."

"But what if we can't?" he protested. "The memories come at such random times; what if I am jailed and can't be in reach of Zelda when one comes upon me?"

Zelda sighed and held out her hands, to bring peace to the table. "Look. If we feel a trigger before the trial, Saria, we will go. I apologize, but we must. If we don't until after, then we will go then."

Saria lowered her gaze to stare morosely at her spinach and mushroom tortellini. Ruto picked at her food, wondering if this would be a good time to change the subject. She took her chance.

"Well then, if this is one of your last nights here, then I think we should live it up as hard as we can."

Link groaned and shook his head. "I respectfully decline; I think I've had enough of your partying. Frankly, I don't care for it."

"Who's this sadsack?" Ruto said, laughing a little. "You can't be serious."

"Well, Ruto, the way you like to party is a little… rigorous. Especially for a newcomer," Saria said.

Ruto shrugged. "We have to do something. Why should we waste even one second? I'll keep it low-key, I promise."

"Why don't I believe you?" muttered Zelda.

"Because nothing she ever does is low-key," Saria added, smirking a little bit.

"You guys are mean! All I want is for all of us to have fun together. Come on, I can call up Denno and we can find him somewhere and do something. Whatever he's doing."

"How come you didn't invite him to dinner?" Saria asked.

Zelda shrugged. "He didn't know the truth, or so I assume. This gift is for you because you both helped, in a lot of ways."

Ruto pushed the last bites of her meal around on her plate as the waitress came around with the bill.

"So, something low key?" she asked.

"If possible," Link answered.

Ruto nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

To Ruto's credit, the night did, in fact, start off low-key. They went bowling, which Link was happy to find had not changed much, then to an alehouse that Ruto called a 'microbrewery', and Link wondered if maybe, just a little, he would be sad to leave this place with such a great variety of ales. Or at least, maybe he could take some of the recipes with him. He and Zelda even talked about it, albeit briefly, as she sipped a raspberry lambic and he took his time over a stout as dark as pitch.

"Do you think we can take anything with us?" she asked, while Ruto, Saria, and Denno, who had been called up, watched TVs with sweaty men heaving each other about, utterly distracted.

"I don't see why not, so long as it's on our person or in our grasp."

"Should I get the clothes I came here in?"

Link raised his eyebrows. "Your clothes?"

Zelda laughed. "I didn't come over naked, I think. You didn't. I believe I might still have them tucked away in my closet somewhere, or Impa may have them." She stared morosely into her beer. "I suppose women have to wear corsets and bustles and things, right?"

Link took a deep swallow of his stout, which hurt a little going down.

"I'm definitely taking some bras, though. Not going to wear such restrictive garments." Now she was more grumbling to herself, and she found a pen in her purse and began to make a list of the items she wanted to bring back on a napkin.

"Zelda, it may not be a good idea to bring back too many items from this time; it could raise questions. I would advise you limit yourself to a few things."

"Well I'm not hauling over a whole suitcase," she said with a little laugh, putting one hand on Link's. She left it there a moment as she looked towards the TV, and Link was just wondering if she would take offense if he pulled his away when she did so for him, letting out a cheer with the rest of the brewery when one of the behemoths flung another to the ground.

When they had drunk a bit there, they stumbled out of the brewery and onward. Ruto charged on ahead, with Saria and Denno behind, chatting a little bit, and Zelda and Link last, keeping in pace with each other and bumping shoulders now and again.

"Which one did you like the most?" Zelda asked him.

"The chocolate stout was different; I've only had chocolate a few times, so I was surprised to see it in a drink."

"Oh, is it rare there?"

"Well, not necessarily, but no one's thought of making a hard drink out of it yet." They walked slowly for a bit. "What about you?"

"Um, I liked the—whoa!"

She stopped and stumbled back, and Link grabbed her shoulders to keep her from falling. "Hey—

"Oh my Goddesses!" Ruto was shouting, jumping up and down and pointing. Her stopping dead still had made everyone else stop, which nearly bowled them over. "We should go to Ikana!"

"Ruto! Low key!" Saria cried.

"It will be, it will! But I just remembered that my favorite DJ is spinning there and I haven't seen him play in ages. For like, an hour! Trust me, he's amazing," she called back, looking at Link. "If you don't want to go, though…"

Link sighed and looked to Zelda.

"Well, he is pretty good," she said with a shrug.

"Sure, why not. I should probably experience what I can."

Ruto whooped in excitement and ran to hail a cab. Saria stopped her. "I haven't drank anything; let's save ourselves the money, if you're okay with me driving your car, Zel."

Zelda smiled and handed over her keys. "Of course."

They drove over to the club, Ruto sitting up front with directions and Denno squished in the back with Link and Zelda.

"So Ruto told me you guys might be going away?" Denno asked.

"Ah, yeah," said Link. "We have to get back home."

"Well that sucks; I was kinda enjoying having another dude around. Sometimes I just need someone to drink a beer with."

"I like beer!" shouted Ruto.

"Yeah, but it's different with ladies around."

"Oh, so you want to hit on girls without me there to cockblock," Ruto said with a smirk.

"… Yep. Pretty much."

They both laughed, Saria rolling her eyes.

"I never have a wingman!" he added in desperation as they pulled up to the club.

It was obvious just from the outside of the building that Ruto was not this DJ's only fan. Saria lucked out in finding a parking spot only two blocks away, and they walked briskly back to the front doors. Ruto grumbled as they paid for cover. "It's worth it, I promise," she muttered to Link.

They were huddled near the door for some time, edging forward cautiously as people went out for smokes or to cut deals at cars out back. Ruto was hopping and shouting, dancing before they barely got out of the hallway. She grabbed Zelda and hugged her, grabbed Saria and hugged her, grabbed Link and hugged him as well, and took Denno's hand, pulling him in to dance.

They edged their way further into the crowd, closer to the massive speakers and the DJ stand. Zelda was gripping Link's hand to not get lost from him, and there was something faintly familiar in the song that was being played.

Link squeezed Zelda's hand to get her attention when he realized why he 'knew' the song. He could feel the memory trickling in at the edge of his consciousness, and he looked at Zelda desperately. She ceased her dancing when she caught his gaze, and her eyes widened. "Link! What's going on?"

When it dawned on her what was happening, she grabbed onto him. "Link! I… alright!" She wrapped her arms around him, and Link closed his eyes, fighting the memory with all his strength. Even now, he could feel his tenuous grip on the world slipping away under his feet, and Zelda's arms were warm on his back, pressing into him fiercely.

He stumbled suddenly, and nearly fell over. Zelda helped to hold him up, and the person that had bumped into them, a pale-faced girl with fiery hair and thick eyeliner, laughed in apology, waving. The memory rushed in, and it was just him and Ruto dancing, when he looked around the room and saw Zelda moving by herself—

"We almost made it, didn't we?" Zelda asked, her hand on his shoulder.

Link sighed. "Almost."

They looked at each other in disappointment and frustration, the only still bodies in the room.


	6. New Age

They found Saria and told her they were going to take a cab home; she could drive Zelda's car over and pick up her own.

"What happened?" she asked, staring. She could see that Zelda was pale, and Link looked irritated. "Did you guys almost vanish? Already?"

She reached out and grabbed at them, hugging them both tightly. They stood in a silent group like that for a few minutes.

"You guys sure you wanna leave so soon?"

"There are some things I want to take care of before we go back," Zelda explained.

Link looked at Saria. "I'm afraid I won't be coming back to stay with you for a while. In case…"

She nodded. "Should I bring over your clothes?"

"Ah, the old ones, if you can. Especially my belt."

Saria smiled and wiped at her tears. "Okay. I will." She hugged him again, and he gave her a little squeeze.

"I'm glad you're my friend here and there," he said in her ear. "Thank you."

He set her down, and Zelda hugged her as well. "I'm transferring my car title to you. Insurance is paid up for the year."

"What? Zelda, that's too much! No!"

Zelda smiled. "Don't worry about it. Sell your old car for a little extra cash, once we're gone."

Saria was bursting into tears all over again, and Zelda stroked her hair. "Come now. It's okay."

She walked with them to the hallway before the door. "I…I guess this is the way things should be, shouldn't they? You guys were never meant to be here at all."

"No, we weren't," Zelda confirmed.

"But I'm glad you were. I really have missed you terribly since you moved away, the other you, and even if you aren't the right ones, I'm glad I got to have some fun with you, in the end."

Link turned suddenly, seeing Ruto and Denno.

"You're going," Ruto stated, not really asking.

"So soon?" Denno added.

"Yes, unfortunately."

Denno eyed them, and sighed. "Y'know, it'll be a damn shame not having you guys around, even if you aren't actually them."

Link raised his eyebrows, and Denno chuckled. "Yeah, I knew. I just figured if you weren't going to say anything, I wouldn't."

He held out one hand to Link, and they shook.

"Hopefully this won't be the last time we run into each other."

"I certainly hope not."

Zelda hugged Ruto, despite that she was sweaty.

"What are you guys going to do?" Ruto asked.

"Can't say; but I still have a lot of things to take care of before I go."

Ruto nodded, and glanced towards Link. Zelda sighed and touched her arm. "Look… whatever bad blood there is between us, let's not separate on a bad note."

"Then…" Ruto started, and she pulled away, turning to Link. It surprised him when she grabbed him and kissed him deeply. Denno turned away and put his hands in his pockets, rather embarrassed.

Link broke away quickly. "Okay, okay—that's enough." Ruto punched him in the shoulder, the tears standing out in her eyes.

"You son of a bitch, leaving me for her again."

"Ruto, that's not fair. I was never with you, or her."

"But… if you stayed, you could've been."

Link stepped back and took Ruto's hand in his own, squeezing it. "We can't stay."

Zelda touched Link's shoulder. "Come on."

They returned to her apartment, and Zelda looked towards Link as she took the clips out of her hair. "I've got some things I'll need to take care of in the morning, would…?"

"I should probably go with you," he sort of interrupted. "In case…"

She smiled at him.

"What was the memory?" she asked, after a pause.

"Um… heard a similar song to what was playing, in a different time. It was me and Ruto."

"He was always her preferred DJ," she said, shrugging.

"But you were there."

"I was?"

He nodded.

Zelda ran her fingers through her hair and gave it a toss. "Well. Should probably go to bed, I think. Some things to do in the morning."

"Yes, you mentioned that."

They looked at each other.

"Are you nervous?" he murmured.

"Yes. What if it doesn't work, is my biggest worry."

He nodded again.

She turned and headed towards her bedroom, pausing on her way. "Link, will you be able to sleep right away?"

"I don't know that I will."

"Let me get changed," she replied.

When she had finished pulling on, she came back out to the living room and sat down on the couch with him.

"What else needs to be done?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Well, I have to find someone who can rent this apartment at a moment's notice, figure out what to do with my accounts... I don't have much, but—

"Give it all to Saria."

Zelda looked at him in surprise. "You think so?"

He shrugged. "Just don't tell her. Is there a way to set up some sort of trust where she would get the money after we are gone?"

She frowned, mulling it over. "I could talk to one of my law professors; we'd have to situate something where once they know I'm gone, they would contact her. Like a dead man's switch."

"What is that?"

Zelda gestured. "It's any mechanism or device wherein if the creator or holder or whatever, doesn't perform a certain action by a certain time, something activates. It can be as big as a bomb going off when a trigger is no longer depressed, or … something…" She trailed off and stood, turning and looking at the desk where her books and papers were still set up, along with a thin plastic object that to Link, resembled a book.

"An email," she muttered, walking quickly over and touching the computer. Link stood up to watch her.

"A what?"

Zelda was silent, ignoring Link's question. "Yes, maybe if I have to send some sort of email every night, even just one quick line, then the night that I don't, she would know to drop off the lease and banking information…" She nodded. "Yes. I think that is just what I will do. Alright."

She turned and looked at Link. "Well." And she fell silent.

Link waited expectantly, looking at her.

They looked at each other for a few minutes, as if waiting for the other to say something. Zelda broke her gaze first, looking out the window at the orange night sky and the towering buildings.

"You'll be able to see the stars at home," Link said, noticing her gaze. "And on full moon nights in winter, you'll be able to see for miles, with the reflection off the snow. It's almost like daylight."

She approached the window, and he went to stand next to her, and they looked out over the city. Zelda closed her eyes, and could feel one of the 'right' memories nibbling at the edges of her subconscious, standing at the window to one of the many towers they had and looking towards the fields where the soldiers were doing drills. She curled her hands into fists and squeezed until her nails sank into her palms, bringing her out of the memory. "Not yet," she said to herself. "Not until everything is settled."

Link put his hand on her shoulder, and gave her a gentle shake. "Zelda, if you're ready, we should just go for it."

"No. I don't want to leave anything behind unfinished. And… and Saria's right, you should really go to trial. You have Gaebora, he's very good. He'll work it out. I really think you need to at least do that."

"We have a few weeks yet," he responded. "How do we know I'll have many memories left by that time?"

Zelda nodded. "That's a good point, but as long as I'm able to remember where I'm supposed to be…"

"I wouldn't feel comfortable risking that."

She nodded in understanding. "I guess I just want to leave as little influence on this world as we can."

They looked out towards the smoky sky again, the faint sound of car horns and traffic filtering through the windows.

"How much of their relationship do you remember?" she asked suddenly.

"What? Oh… I can't tell, why?"

Zelda shrugged. "It would be a good idea if we are able to stay close at all times, in case of a memory…"

Link picked up on her train of thought. "Ah, yes."

"It is not that I want you to think I expect something, but I am wondering how awkward it would be if you stayed in my room at night."

"I can sleep on the floor," he offered.

"I don't want you to sleep on—

Zelda pursed her lips and looked down at the floor. After a minute of their awkward standing, she laughed a little. "I'm as bad as Ruto."

Link stared at her with longing. He'd certainly been making a concentrated effort to put up boundaries, to leave space between them, and to not say anything that could be misconstrued. But it was damned hard, and getting harder all the time, with each new memory, teasing him that they could share something, anything.

"I don't want to sleep on the floor, either," he admitted.

She looked at him and folded her arms. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," he replied. "We will sleep and that will be all."

Zelda nodded in agreement, and went to check that the front door was locked. She shuffled by him on the way back, glancing once over her shoulder. "Well," she said with a shrug. Link followed her into the room, and Zelda went to setting up a small flat object in some sort of stand or display.

"There's mouthwash in the bathroom, if you want something to clean your teeth."

He crept into the master bathroom and found the wash, reading the directions twice before using. While he swilled the sharp-tasting substance around, he looked around at the bathroom; in one corner was a massive bathtub, sunk right into the wall. Next to it was a thin glass-enclosed stall, with a spigot coming from the wall opposite. A neat pink robe hung on the back of the bathroom door, and there were a few odds and ends scattered on the sink counter; a toothbrush and paste, floss, Zelda's glasses in a case, some bottles of perfume, and an assortment of makeup powders. He paused at the mirror and looked at his nose; aside from some purple bruising under one eye (very faint), it looked alright. No wonder no one had asked about it.

"You've gotten quite a bit of stuff for six months," he asked, after spitting the foamy wash into the sink and rinsing it away.

"I work on a per-case basis as a legal aide at the courthouse. They give me a small stipend to keep me on call, and I get a bonus when I've helped with a trial."

"Must be some bonus," he said, looking around.

Zelda shrugged. "Impa also knows the landlord here; she worked out a deal with him for discounted rent."

"What about your father? I presume he knows you're here. What will happen to him?"

Zelda sighed. "He came to see me twice, while I was staying at Dr. Ivanova's. This was when… I was still transitioning, or having my memories replaced or whatever has been happening to me. I said some very ugly things the first time, said he wasn't my father and I would have nothing to do with him. The second time I apologized, but… in a way, I think he knew I wasn't his child. Instinctively."

"Have you tried to contact him at all since?"

She shook her head.

"I think you should, before we go. To explain to him what has happened. He may not take it well if his daughter vanishes, even if you aren't really his daughter."

"You're right. I should at least say something." She eyed him. "You'll have to go with me, though."

Link slowly nodded. "Of… course."

Zelda laughed a little. "You're not nervous, are you? You'll be fine."

There was another pause in the conversation, and they looked at each other.

"Well. We should get some rest, then," Zelda said briskly, turning and climbing into the bed. After a moment's hesitation, Link settled down on top of the covers, folding his hands on his chest. Zelda rolled over to face him, propping her head up on one arm. He turned his head and looked at her.

"What is it?" he asked.

She reached out and put her free hand to his cheek, then pulled it back again. "I don't know. So much to think about." Zelda sighed and shifted to her back and looked up at the ceiling. They were quiet for a few minutes.

"If you start to dream of a memory in your sleep…" she started.

"I'll reach for you," he promised.

But their sleep was unburdened that night.

Zelda walked with Link to her car the next morning. Saria had texted her saying that she had hidden the keys on top of one of the tires, and after careful checking Zelda found them.

"I want to go to Dr. Ivanova's office first and get the few things I need from her. Then I can ask her about setting up this dead man switch, then… we'll go see my father."

She took a deep breath before climbing in the car. Link climbed in on the other side as she started the engine, and after adjusting the radio, they pulled out into traffic.

"Saria said once that you went to her when you first got here, not… your father or her father or whatever we should call him. Do you remember that?"

Zelda glanced at him, then back to the road. "Hm, some of it. I know I spent a lot of time in bed. Ruto or Saria or Denno were usually there. I guess they used him to uh… keep me there. They told me I would go into hysterics, desperate to leave. Then when I was able to calm down a little, I would tell them I was waiting for you, because I knew you'd come. They must've thought I meant coming back… in a romantic way. And after a while I thought that, too. And you took so long, that I started to resent you."

"I picked up on that, but I cannot fault you for it."

Zelda glanced at him. "I'm thankful for your understanding."

They were silent in the car ride the rest of the way.

Impa lived just outside of the city in a suburb, in a two-story house that Zelda swore was amazing. Impa's house was made of red brick, with a wide porch before the front door. The roof that overhung the house was supported by white columns, which gave it a regal and stately effect. They parked in the driveway and headed to the front door, where Zelda rang the doorbell, and they waited.

Impa looked more or less the same; except for her outfit and the lack of the Shiekah facial tattoos. She wore a clean, fitted suit jacket and slacks over a loose blouse, and she smiled warmly at Zelda, embracing her.

"Come in, come in." She eyed Link and he swore he felt a chill as her gaze went dead and cold.

"So, Zelda, how have you been?" Impa asked as they headed into the kitchen, which was huge and airy, with an island counter in the center of the room with chairs on one side. "Want anything to drink?"

"Water, please. I've been doing fine."

Impa set down a glass for her on the granite countertop and leveled her gaze at Link. "Is this the man that left?"

"Dr. Ivano—

"Impa, please."

"Impa. I am here to discuss that with you, actually. I am returning with him, but we're not sure when, and I wanted to get some of the things I left here."

Impa didn't move. "You're going back? Where?"

"To… where we live. Where I should be."

"Fine. You come up with me. You stay here," Impa said, looking at Link. She took Zelda by the shoulder and they left the kitchen, heading up a carpeted staircase towards the master bedroom. Zelda shivered a little as she followed Impa; she did not want to call up the time she spent here.

Impa went into her walk-in closet and knelt down, pulling out a large cardboard box and holding it out to Zelda. "Here," she said softly. "Check and make sure it's all there."

Cautiously, Zelda opened the box and gasped a little when she saw the clothes. She recognized them, she really did. She pulled out the lightweight cotton dress and shook it out, looking it over, neatly folding it and looking back into the box. Underneath that was a corset meant to go from bust to hip. There was also a thin cape with an elegant clasp to hold it closed, one side being the Hylian family crest, the other being the Triforce. She touched the clasp, feeling a memory coming on, and she gasped sharply, pulling her hand back. The memory rapidly faded.

"Are you alright?" asked Impa, standing.

"Yes, fine. Just… the pin. A little sharp." She smiled at Impa.

Impa nodded, dusting off a bit of lint from her pants, and closing up the closet. "Zelda. Why are you going back with him? I do not like the look of him; you do not remember how frantic you were when you came here. Quite frankly, I'm stunned you came here first."

Zelda was still staring at the clothing, and looked up at her mentor. "Impa, look at these clothes. Do you think these are the garments of a modern woman? Do you think I came here, dressed like this, half-mad, on a lark? The truth is, I am not the Zelda you think you know."

Impa looked at her for a long time, as if trying to decide if Zelda was crazy or what. She finally sighed, and shook her head. "I won't deny that this outfit you came to get is… unexpected. If you really believe following him is the right path, I can't stop you. But do not follow him just because he is the one telling you to do so."

"It isn't like that at all, I assure you." Zelda was gently petting the cloak in the box. "You have to believe me."

Impa watched Zelda closely. "If something goes wrong," she finally said, "you can come back here."

"Thank you," Zelda replied, bowing her head.

Impa put her hands on Zelda's shoulders, looking at her closely. She finally smiled. "I trust you to make the best decision for yourself. That is the best I can offer you."

Zelda nodded, and Impa let her go, gesturing towards the door.

Impa followed Zelda down to the kitchen, where Link was waiting patiently, standing in place at the kitchen island. He turned when he heard Zelda walking in, and glanced at the box in her hands. She set it down on the counter and folded her hands, resting them on top of the box.

"Also, Impa," she started, pausing to mull over her words, "I… I'm not sure when I'm leaving. It could be at any time. When I do leave, I want to ensure that the things I leave behind go to someone who could use them."

Impa frowned. "It sounds more like you're going to be dying, not moving away."

"It's nothing so drastic as that. But once I'm gone, I won't be able to come back. I would like to set up a trust so that when the time comes, my apartment and finances can go to a benefactor."

"Then you want a will."

Zelda sighed. "But I'm not dying, I… I won't exist. Anywhere."

Impa raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Link spoke up, regardless of how crazy it would make him sound. "She's in the wrong dimension. I'm taking her back."

Zelda looked towards Impa, keeping her face serious and impassive.

Impa looked between the two of them, folding her arms and leaning back a little. She was debating whether or not to call them on the oddness in that statement, but instead she sighed.

"I would recommend having a script running on your laptop that automatically sends an email to your lawyer about releasing the information, unless you input a code ahead of time. How quick do you want the notification sent?"

Zelda frowned. "A week or so. But I'm afraid I don't know much about code."

"Find someone. I understand the general idea of it, but unfortunately I cannot sit and write over it."

"Would you be that lawyer, Impa?"

She smiled a little. "Why me?"

"I feel as if I can trust you most, and that you will do what I ask without question. Well, too many of them," Zelda amended.

Impa sighed, leaning against the counter. "Of course. Bring over the necessary papers you want me to hold when it's ready."

"Of course. Thank you."

Impa looked at Link, and he lifted his chin and stared back. After a moment or two, she grinned.

"Take care of her."

"I will."

Impa sighed and looked back towards Zelda. "Can I help you with anything else?"

"Do you know anyone who can write code?"

Impa had sent them on their way with a phone number for her nephew or some other sort of relative, and Zelda tucked the number into her pocket.

"So… to… your father's?" Link asked as he climbed in.

Zelda sighed and gripped the wheel, giving it a brief squeeze. "Yes. Might as well."

But her father wasn't at home, and when they went to see him at City Hall, they were told he was in a meeting and wouldn't be able to speak to anyone. Zelda looked rather put out, but she thanked the receptionist and left quickly.

They climbed into the car and Zelda muttered curses under her breath. "I was hoping to have everything done today," she said in response to Link's curious glance. "I wanted to have everything ready, in case something happens tonight."

"Why not approach him later? Maybe when he will be at home?"

"Perhaps."

They stopped at a restaurant before heading to her apartment, ordering food for carry-out. Link let Zelda do the ordering, and she promised that he would love what she was getting.

They returned to her apartment, and Zelda set out the food containers on the counter, getting down two plates. She asked Link to pour them both glasses of water to have with, as she portioned out the foods. Link was startled, albeit briefly, by how easily they'd fallen into a sort of domesticity together. He wanted to blame the unwarranted memories, the pressing of another person's personality onto his own, but at times he wasn't sure if it wasn't simply that they had a connection to each other, whether through the Triforce or other reasons. He leaned against the kitchen counter and watched Zelda finish scooping out the food, pausing to lick a bit of sauce from her thumb. She paused and smiled at Link when she realized he was staring.

"What is it?"

He hesitated, then asked, "Do you… well."

Zelda turned completely to face him, waiting for him to finish.

"It will be a shame when we return, I guess. This… is sort of nice, in its way."

"What is?"

Link sort of gestured vaguely in the air. "This… feeling."

Zelda smiled again, slowly, and she nodded. "Yes. I'll miss it."

"As will I," he admitted. "It's nice to not have to be on guard all the time."

"Do we live in dangerous conditions?" she asked suddenly, a little surprised.

"No, not necessarily. It is just that I am part of your Royal Guard, and we must always be prepared for… an event. I mean, there is always some small dangers, but there would be anywhere."

"And you, my brave protector," she said. "Never tiring in your duty to the queen?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty," Link even managed to look a little offended that she would insinuate such.

"Oh, you haven't called me that in a while," Zelda laughed, and handed him a fork. "May as well eat, before it gets cold."

"Do you like it when I call you that?" He was holding the fork but looking at her.

"Of course I do," she answered after a pause. "It… helps me to remember." But there was something in her eyes when she looked at him, and Link turned to grab his plate of food before he went forward with something he shouldn't.

They ate at the coffee table and idly watched TV, and when she finished, Zelda went to her computer, opening it without a word to Link. There were clacking sounds from her direction, and he turned to look at her a few times.

"Is everything alright?" he called.

"Yes, everything is fine. I may not have to call this person after all; seems my email has a scheduling function."

She had lost him in the second half of the conversation, and he simply nodded and glanced again at the TV, before taking their plates to the kitchen and washing them by hand. When he returned, Zelda was nowhere to be seen, and he also noticed that the box with her clothes was missing. Hesitantly, he approached her bedroom, where the door was shut tight, and he knocked.

"Just a moment," she called out. Link stepped back from the door and waited, and after a few minutes, Zelda opened it, fully dressed in her queenly attire.

"You look very nice," Link said, looking down to the floor. Zelda went to stand before her floor-length mirror, looking at the long, light blue dress that trailed over the floor with hand-sewn embroidered scenes in gold along the hem, the lightweight green cape with that immense gold clasp, and the long flared sleeves with a hand-stitched lettuce edge, giving it a gentle ripple.

She was silent, staring into her reflection. Link went cold and walked towards her. Zelda's breath started to hitch, and he could see her flickering and fading, going dim like a candle about to expire.

"No!" he shouted, and threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around Zelda and closing his eyes. If they were going to vanish now, she couldn't leave him behind. But he miscalculated his jump, and they ended up falling over hard, onto the floor.

"Oh—" Link started to apologize, but Zelda pushed herself up to a sitting position, and looked at him over her shoulder.

"I'm glad you stopped me; I'm not quite ready to go yet." She unhooked the cape and let it crumple to the floor, before slowly standing up. Link took up her cape and folded it over his arm.

"This is too heavy to carry around in a bag with me," she muttered in annoyance. She turned and took the gold closure from the front of her cape in his arms, carefully unpinning it and holding the heavy object in her palm.

"This was a gift?" she asked softly, looking up at Link.

"I do not know, Your Majesty." Her attire had forced a sense of deference back into him. Zelda stepped towards him, and Link went rigid.

"Your Majesty?" he asked tentatively.

Zelda stopped and stepped back again, clearing her throat. "Sorry. Let me… I want to change, if you don't mind."

"No, of course not." He put the folded cape on the bed and bowed on his way out.

Link went back to the couch, and after a few minutes, Zelda returned to sit with him, dressed again in the clothes she'd worn that day, but with the cape closure hooked around her wrist like a bracelet. They remained there in silence for a few minutes, with Link facing the television but not really watching it.

"If I keep the closure on me, I can perhaps use it as something to call up memories of my true Hyrule," she said, by explanation.

"That's a good decision," Link answered.

She fiddled idly with the clasp, then turned to look at him. "What now?"

"I should probably get ahold of Saria; she said she would bring over my old clothes."

"She didn't specify when?"

"No." He looked around for the phone, and Zelda found her cell in her pocket, handing it over to him.

"Do you know how to use it?" she asked.

He flipped it open and studied the phone carefully, pushing buttons until he thought he figured it out.

"Hit the green button," Zelda muttered, pointing. "That will call her."

He did so, and reluctantly put the device up to his ear, listening to the ring on the other end.

"Hello?" Saria sounded distracted.

"Marvelous," Link muttered. "Saria? Is that you?"

"… Link?" She laughed a little. "Hey, what's up?"

"Uh… hello. Yes, um…"

Zelda watched Link use the phone for a few minutes, amused, then finally lifted herself up and went to get a new glass of water from the kitchen. She looked at the glass, then around at the kitchen, in one of the cupboards at the pots and pans. All random odds and ends that had been gotten for her so that she could survive. All things that she had rarely used, and at any time, she would never use again. She played a little with her new bracelet, swallowing down her apprehension. But it wouldn't be easier if they stayed, and it wouldn't be fair to her country.

"Okay, we'll see you in a little while. Uh… good bye." Link pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it, finally closing the phone, then reopening it to check that it had ended the call. Satisfied, he set it down on the coffee table, and stood up to find Zelda.

"Are you alright?" he asked, when he poked his head around the corner of the kitchen wall and saw her.

"Yes, there's just… a lot of things I've never gotten to do here. I didn't think I would miss that."

"Like what?" He stood next to her, leaning back on the counter.

"Well, I've never cooked a meal here. Usually I just grab takeout. Honestly, I don't even know if I can cook. I've never held a huge party here, I never had…" she stopped herself, waiting a moment, then continued. "You're the only man I've had around to spend the night."

She set down her glass, and continued. "I mean, it's not as if I need to have done these things, but won't all this stuff go to waste?"

"But you're giving it all to Saria, so… it shouldn't."

"Link… do you think we came here for a reason? That there's something that needs to be done?"

"Maybe, but wouldn't we have been.. given some sort of sign?"

"Like what?"

They looked at each other blankly.

"Truly, all I've really felt is an urge to get us back to Hyrule. To home." Link put his hand on Zelda's shoulder. "And I've sworn to do that."

"I want more than just home, now," she confessed, looking into his eyes. After a pause, she added, "I want to change things for the better for our people, as well."

"I hope that when we are back, you will see that your country is a good place, with prosperous farms and honest, hardworking people. We may not have modern conveniences, but some of them we don't need. We make our way as we can. And I've promised to help you. I intend to keep that promise."

"Thank you," Zelda said quietly. "I'm glad to have you. And I hope to keep you."

"For as long as you need my assistance, I'm here for you."

Zelda hugged him, and he wrapped his arms around her. They slowly started to pull apart, and at the last second, Zelda pulled him into her again.

"I need you now," she said earnestly, looking into his eyes.

He wasn't sure what to say, so he settled for one word. "Zelda."

She touched his lips with her fingertips. "I at least want to do a few things I wouldn't have the chance to do otherwise. If you don't want to, if I've overstepped our relationship, then I understand, and I apologize." She slowly loosened her arms, giving him the chance to pull away. He did step back a little bit, putting his hands on her waist.

"What exactly would be the nature of these things that you have not done and are not able to do and wish to do?" He stopped and laughed. "Kind of an awkward phrase, isn't it?"

His laughter mellowed the tension between them, and Zelda smiled, stepping back once more and leaning on the kitchen counter again.

"Well. What should we do until Saria arrives?" she asked. "I imagine you're probably sick of television by now."

"Oh not completely; it's terribly interesting. It's helped me to learn a great deal about the future."

Zelda went into the fridge and brought out the wine they'd been drinking the night before, and poured them both a small glass. Link took a small sip, and Zelda stared into hers for a minute, swirling it around the glass.

Saria came along not too much later, when they'd finally decided to settle in on the couch in silence, making a little comment to each other about nothing of consequence now and again. She hugged Link tightly when he let her in, and waved to Zelda with a little smile.

"Ah, here you go," Saria said, handing Link a heavy cloth bag, green with an image of an all-white tree on it and the words "Kokiri Research Labs" around it. He looked inside and made sure all of his clothes were together.

"Oh, and—" She also handed him another parcel, but this one wrapped up around an object a little too long; quite obviously his sword.

"Thank you very much," Link said as he carefully unwrapped the sword, looking it over. He checked its blade, though it had only been out of the sheath a few times since his arrival, and it was still in fine condition.

"Can I see it?" Zelda asked, holding out her hand.

Carefully, Link sheathed his sword and turned it around, so that she could pull it free by the grip. She did so, holding it aloft and keeping one hand free under the blade, should its weight prove to be too much.

"Careful with that," Link warned her, stepping forward and putting his palm near the end of the sword, to take some of the weight off Zelda's wrist. Zelda turned it over, looking at it, her face studious.

"This isn't the right sword?" she asked, looking up at him. Saria furrowed her brow and looked at Link. Link stared at Zelda.

"What do you mean?"

Zelda looked back down at it, chewing her lower lip. "It's… just not what it should be. It's a stand-in."

Link was surprised by this observation, and he realized what Zelda meant. "The other sword… I am not permitted to carry it until a time of great need. We are at peace right now."

Saria was confused and looked back and forth between them. "Is anyone going to explain this to me?" she threw out, half-jokingly.

Zelda nodded and sheathed the blade, handing it back to Link. He sighed heavily. "When we're at war, when evil has risen again, there is a specific holy sword I have to use."

Zelda gave herself a little shake and looked to Saria, smiling a little. "Thank you for bringing these items over."

Saria shrugged. "Well, I figure he'll need these things when you get home, so it's the least I can do."

"Do you want some water or anything?" Zelda offered.

"No, actually, I should be getting back. I'm going to have to go to the labs tonight anyway and check on the growth of some sample plants."

"Well, have… fun?"

Saria laughed. "It's fascinating for me, at least." She hugged them both on her exit.

"If you get hungry, come by and we'll get something to eat, okay?" Zelda said as she embraced her.

"Thanks," Saria responded, turning back to the door. She paused with her hand on the handle, looking back at both of them and smiling a little bit. Then she opened the door and left.

Link put his hand on Zelda's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, rubbing her forehead. "Yes. Just a bit of a headache. Maybe some water…"

She went to the kitchen partition and poured herself a glass, abandoning her wine for now, and drank it all in one swallow. Even now she was mulling over the sight of that sword, its wrongness in Link's hands. She could see the proper sword before her even as her headache progressed, with its blue grip and cross guard, the Triforce engraved on the blade itself near the rain guard. She braced herself on the counter, her headache building to a migraine and nausea broiling in her guts. She started heaving in the sink, and Link was there in a flash, grabbing her shoulders.

"Zelda!"

He pulled her hair back out of her face as she gagged, only spasms from her stomach. Link put his left hand over hers and closed his eyes, pressing against her. But she did not flicker, nor give the hint of fading away, and after a few more dry heaves, she sagged heavily on her arms, the knuckles of her hands white with her grip.

Link let her hair down and stepped back, watching her carefully. She took slow, even breaths, and the color slowly returned to her face.

He rubbed her back in circles, and moved the water glass away from the edge of the counter.

"Are you alright?" he asked again. "Should you lay down?"

"It was just so odd," she said quietly. "I just knew, holding it, it wasn't the right sword, but just a stand-in, a placeholder. And I could see the true sword, the one that is yours to wield."

"I had to put it back. You were there. It's residing safely in the Temple of Time."

Zelda closed her eyes and shook her head, taking one final deep breath. "Yes. It's…" She straightened, opened her eyes again, and looked at him.

"Link…" she started.

He stepped forward and put his hands on her arms, waiting for her to finish her thought.

"Perhaps I should lie down, after all."

"Are you feeling weak?"

"No, but I still have a bit of headache. I think I should lie down, after all."

He nodded and let her go, respectfully stepping back. Zelda tucked a lock of hair behind one ear. "Come with me," she said.

"Are you asking, or commanding?" Link replied.

"Well, wouldn't it be smart if you were at least in the same room?" Zelda answered with a shrug.

He followed her down the hall, pausing outside of her room while she changed. When finished, she opened the door and gestured him inside, where she climbed in under the bedcovers, and pulled them back to let him in as well.

He paused and looked towards her, questioning with just a glance.

"It will be warmer, and I'll sleep better," she offered immediately.

"Your Maj…"

"I know that this is probably uncomfortable for you. I have explained to you before that with these memories, I am used to the idea of you being there, next to me. And quite frankly, it's hard to toss and turn under the covers when you're pinning them down." She grinned at him.

"What if it leads to something… inappropriate?" he asked, realizing a little too late that this might not have been a good question.

"And why would it do that?" she countered.

Link looked at her in silence, and Zelda tilted her head up slightly in defiance. Finally, he sighed and walked over, climbing into the bed next to her. Zelda left a few inches of space between them, and once he was settled in, she closed her eyes and tucked one arm up under her pillow.

Link lay on his side and watched her sleep for a while, even after the sun set and the room grew dark, taking on some of the orange glow of the sky through the windows. As he gazed at her, he could feel his protective instincts of her strengthening. She was dear to him, more than she really had any right to be, even as his queen. He thought, not for the first time since he'd met her, of kissing her. It was clear by some of her actions that she would be more than responsive to it. But he still couldn't shake the nagging feeling that it would be wrong, that is wasn't something they needed to start while in this new place.

Link's internal turmoil was broken when he heard a dull rattling noise echoing through the apartment. His senses sharpened and adrenaline flooded through him. He slid from the bed carefully, cursing that he had not brought his sword or the belt into the room with him. He breathed shallowly through his mouth, pausing when he thought he heard the rattling again, and able to pinpoint it as coming from past the living room area.

He checked the door on his way through, glancing over at it as he crept by the couch, but it was locked up, and nothing seemed disturbed. Obviously, it wasn't a thief. He relaxed a little, genuinely curious now, and he shuffled onward, heading into the kitchen. He studied the cabinets and the dishes they held, then the immaculate counters. The rattling came again, from behind him, and he whipped around, seeing only the massive fridge. He approached it and checked inside the main compartment, but all was still. He peeked into the freezer, looking at the little bin of ice, and realized quite suddenly that it had to be this machine. He shut the doors and waited, his arms folded. It took several minutes, but eventually he heard the clattering noise again, and when he whipped open the door to check, there was in fact an extra ice cube or two at the top of the bin.

Satisfied he had solved this brief mystery, he headed back towards the bedroom. It was a relief to find mundane answers for unexpected noises. He paused in the bathroom to relieve himself, flushed, and washed his hands with some soap before climbing back into bed. When he approached it though, he realized Zelda was sitting up and looking at him, and she waved him over.

"I heard a noise," he explained. "It was the ice maker."

"Mmm," she nodded, slinking back under the covers a little and looking up at him. "I hardly notice it any more."

"A miraculous device, to be sure," he replied as he climbed back under the covers, pulling her in close.

"It's certainly useful." She moved her hands up to his face, putting her fingers in his hair and pressing into him. Link sighed and shifted forward. They kissed slowly, Zelda's fingers curling against his scalp, her pulse quickening. Link took his time, learning the feel of her lips against his, touching his tongue to hers and wrapping his arms tighter around her. She moved her arms downward, somewhat awkwardly, and wrapped her hands around his waist, pulling at the tail of his shirt to free it from his pants so she could touch his bare skin.

"My love," she whispered, somewhat sadly, at a brief break in the kiss to shift the tilt of their heads.

"My queen," he replied, almost automatically, and he went in for another kiss, but his mouth froze against hers, and he snapped out of the trance he'd been put in. That brief sleep of becoming the _other_ Link, of accepting mundane things like running water that flushes away waste and ice makers and foaming anti-bacterial soaps. Of laying in the bed of a powerful monarch and handling her body like she was common.

Zelda leaned back when she realized he had locked up, confused. "Link?"

He cleared his throat and wiped his mouth. "My apologies. I would…" He could think of a million things to say to her, to apologize, but none of them quite sounded adequate, or explanatory enough. "Did I intrude on you?" he settled for, finally.

"Link, I am not a queen here, and you are not my soldier," she reminded him gently.

"No, but we are over there. I should not be treating you like this—"

In case I should get to like it.

In case it leads to something.

In case we don't want to stop when you have to pick a king.

"Maybe I want you to treat me like this," she said firmly. "Maybe I want you to share my bed, my heart, my… body."

He sat up and leaned back from her, to keep himself in restraint.

"We will have to go back to our roles when we get home. We won't have this kind of closeness. Do you not think it will be more painful there?"

"Then we should take what we can now." She sat up, and pulled him in. "Won't it be worse to never be together, knowing we had this chance?"

They looked at each other for a long moment, and Link leaned in, kissing her once more. Zelda reached up and started to unbutton his shirt, and he stopped her.

"Whoa—whoa—"

"I'm sorry if I'm moving too fast for you," Zelda said, backing off. "But I haven't been touched by anyone in six months."

"Technically, you've never been," he pointed out, hating himself for it but trying to keep her from associating with the other Zelda too often and too much.

"Ugh, I still can't believe that," she muttered darkly. "So backwards."

"Well, it is the surest way to prevent bastard children, is to keep the royal body int—

"Oh, I'll find something to do about that," she replied. "I'll talk to Saria, contraceptives have to come from somewhere. Goddesses, maybe I should buy a box of condoms to take home."

"We really shouldn't take anything outside of the items we came here with," he warned her.

"I know, it's just ludicrous! Surely the women of that time period have some way of preventing pregnancy!"

They sat in silence, and Zelda looked at him apologetically.

"I ruined the mood, didn't I?"

"It is probably for the best," Link assured her. He lay back down, and she joined him, turning towards him and tucking one arm up behind her head again, reaching out to grasp his hand. Link turned towards her as well, letting her take his hand and hold it. He kissed her hand and looked up at her. "Go back to sleep, Zelda. I'll see you in the morning. I'll be here, all night."


	7. Nightcore

Impa sat up, staring at her half-finished scotch as she debated her choices. She had a phone in her hand as well, and it sat, quiet and waiting, in her palm. The papers Zelda had brought over sat on the coffee table, too.

She remembered very well the day Zelda had showed up on her doorstep. There had been a furious pounding on the door that had quickly faded to half-hearted slaps. When she opened it, she saw Zelda in those strange clothes, her hair messy, and the annoyed cab driver waiting at the road, his arms folded.

"She hasn't paid fare!" he shouted as Impa ushered Zelda inside, then rushing to pay the driver his exorbitant fee, and quickly getting back into her house. Zelda had collapsed on her knees on the floor, shaking and pale.

"Zelda, are you alright?" she asked, crouching and reaching out to her with one hand.

"What is this place? How did I get here?" The panicking queen looked towards Impa, tears standing out in her eyes. "Oh Goddesses, Impa, where are your marks?"

Impa was alarmed; Zelda seemed to be having a nervous breakdown.

"Come on, let's have you lie down and drink some water. I'll call your father."

"My father is dead!" Zelda shrieked.

"What?" Impa knew damn well he wasn't; she'd seen the mayor that morning. "Zelda, he's alive. He survived the heart attack. And what are you doing in Hyrule? I thought you moved to Termina with Link?"

"Oh Goddesses… Link!" Zelda gasped. "He must know where I am—he has to come for me! Impa, you have to get ahold of him!"

"What's his number?"

"His what?"

Impa was perplexed, but Zelda was growing more agitated in her confusion and the sensory overload. She broke into tears there, on the floor, and buried her face in her hands.

When she could, Impa hauled Zelda up and took her upstairs, helping her to undo the corset when it was time.

"Were you at a costume party or something?" she couldn't help but ask.

Zelda sniffled and looked at Impa over her shoulder. "What? I was going to meet with dignitaries…"

Impa shook her head and silently offered Zelda an old Goron Gym shirt and pants for clean clothing. The items were hilariously too big, but Zelda walked in them with stately grace regardless.

"Who are you here with?" Impa asked her.

"No one; I'm not supposed to be here. I fell through a hole!"

"What? Zelda, you're not making any sense."

"It's the truth!"

Impa shook her head. "Lay down and get some rest. You're in hysterics."

Zelda did go and lay down in one of the guest beds, and while she was asleep, Impa called the mayor.

He came over an hour later, and they shook hands at the front door.

"What is she doing here?" he asked in exasperation.

"I don't know, sir. She's in hysterics, she's been claiming that she's not from here. I'm worried that she is having a nervous breakdown."

The mayor sighed heavily. "I don't understand what she's doing here though; last I talked to her, she said she was doing great, she loved her job, and she and Link were doing fine."

"How long ago was that?"

"Last week or so," he responded, after some deliberation.

"A lot can happen in a week, sir."

"Where is she?"

"She's upstairs, resting. I wouldn't go up there just yet, though."

The mayor sat down and Impa got him a glass of scotch.

"How were you two when you talked? Did you argue?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Sir, she… claims that you're dead."

"_What?_"

Impa cleared her throat. "I asked her if I should call you. She said no, it was impossible. She claimed you're dead."

The mayor felt a chill.

"She did come in… very odd clothes, as well. She was wearing a sort of medieval dress, she even had on a corset."

"But Zelda has little interest in such history," he said, perplexed. "As far as I know, she's more interested in the future."

Impa poured herself a glass and they sat down at the table, mulling over the strong drink.

"This is completely out of nowhere," he muttered.

Impa nodded, not sure what to say.

"I'd really like to go up and talk to her, while I can."

Impa hesitated, but decided perhaps another familiar sight would calm her frightened guest.

"Alright."

Impa directed him to Zelda's room, following him in.

"Zelda? Sweetheart?" he said softly.

She stirred and sat up, staring at him, uncomprehending. Then—

"Oh Goddesses, am I dead? Father?"

"No dear, you're fine."

He sat with her, patting her knee. "Why do you think I'm dead?"

"You… you passed away. Your heart gave out a few years back. You're supposed to be dead!" She was starting into hysterics again, and he felt strange.

"Are you saying you wish I was dead?"

"No! But you're not supposed to be here! I'm not supposed to be here!"

"What happened? Did something happen to Link?"

"Link? He's… I can't find him, he's not here either. Oh Goddesses, how am I to get back?"

"Back?"

"Home! This isn't my home! I'm supposed to be in Hyrule, at the castle!"

"But… this is Hyrule."

Zelda shook her head frantically. "You're a damned liar, whatever you are! How dare you come round the queen with that makeup, trying to look like my father! If you think you're going to startle me into some sort of ruse with you, then you'd better leave now! Impa, throw him out!"

Impa hesitated, but put one hand on the mayor's shoulder.

"Come on, sir."

He looked upset, understandably so, but he followed Impa out of the room and back downstairs.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" he asked Impa, downing the rest of his scotch.

"I don't know. She's been like that since she arrived at my doorstep."

"How did she get to your doorstep?"

"A cab, apparently. I had to pay him."

The mayor sighed. "Well, see that you're reimbursed by the city for it." He hesitated, staring into his empty glass. "Do you think perhaps… something happened between them? I always pinned Link as a good man, but I've been wrong on that count before."

"Would she go to this level of hysterics though?" Impa countered.

"They are very much in love, Impa."

She frowned. "I'll talk to her about it when she has some rest."

Impa escorted the mayor out, then returned to Zelda's temporary room. Zelda was still awake, and glowered at her.

"That was a fairly cruel trick, Impa," she said coldly.

"Calm down, Zelda. Your father is worried about you, as am I."

"My father is dead! He died!"

"Zelda, is this about something else? Did something happen between you and Link?"

Zelda stared at Impa in confusion. "Something? Like what?"

"Did you two break up? Did he leave you?"

"Leave me? He came back from Termina years ago."

"But you moved back out there."

Zelda laughed a little. "Why would I live in Termina? I am part of the Royal Court of Hyrule."

Impa sighed. "Clearly, we're unable to reach an understanding here. Why don't you go back to sleep for a while?"

Zelda fidgeted a little and looked around, then back to Impa.

"I… alright."

Impa gathered up Zelda's clothes while she slept and went to wash them. She paused as she looked them over, unable to find any manufacturing tags or anything. The seams were hand-sewn, she noticed, and the heavy gold clasp on the cloak looked handcrafted, bore no logo, no mark. The hems of her dress and cloak did have dirt and little clumps of mud on them though; as if they'd been dragged through a muddy place. She could have picked it up from the park, if she'd walked through it. But Impa was unsure.

Even now, as she sat reflecting on this, she was still unsure. Zelda seemed in much better mental faculties, but she was sticking to this strange story of ruling a country, of being from another time. But what if she wasn't crazy? At the same time, what if Link was manipulating her, keeping her wrapped up in some sort of lie to control her? Not to mention his own arrest that had transpired, where he had been declaring the same sort of lunacy; they came from another world, another dimension.

Impa finished her scotch and went to pour another one.

Link was showering in the master bathroom. He stood under the hot water, running his fingers through his hair to dampen it for washing. He scrubbed his face with his hands, thinking back on last night, and this morning. For when they woke up, she'd pulled him in close and they had kissed with longing, as if Zelda was determined to never miss a chance to touch him. And he admitted to himself that it was not just the influence of this world's Link. It was their own desire. Even so, he stopped short when she tried to take it further, and she was understanding, but he didn't know how long it would stay that way.

He used the soap Zelda had pointed out to wash up, using it on his hair as well, and stepped out, wrapping up in a towel. He felt far cleaner than he ever had taking a bath in a tub.

He dried off and stepped out, pulling on the clothes he'd brought into the bathroom. When he finally left, Zelda was still in bed, on what she called a laptop, and she turned and smiled at him.

"Feel better?"

"Cleaner than I have in ages," he assured her, nodding. She turned back to her computer, typing away.

"What do you want to do today?" she asked him.

He ran his fingers back through his hair and shrugged. "Should we go see your father?"

She thought, and nodded to herself. "Yes. We should try to catch him today, if only so that I can apologize to him, and try to explain."

She finished typing her passage, and closed the computer.

"I should probably wash as well," she added, climbing out of bed. "Hopefully the water will still be warm." She paused, looking at him, and kissed him. "Not another missed moment," she said, solemn.

He ran his hand down her cheek and they kissed again.

"At this rate we'll never get anything done," he said with a chuckle.

"We will, we will," she assured him.

A few hours later, they were again at City Hall. The receptionist assured them the mayor was in, and recognizing Zelda, he handed them visitor passes. Zelda led them down the hall to the office, and politely knocked on the door.

A few moments of tense silence, then, "Come in."

The mayor was the spitting image of the dead king (big surprise) and Link had to restrain himself to stop from bowing. Zelda smiled at the mayor, who smiled back, but faintly.

"My darling daughter, and Link as well? What a surprise." He stood and embraced Zelda, and he and Link shook hands. "I heard you were in town again."

"I came to take Zelda home, Y… sire."

The mayor raised an eyebrow but let it slide.

Zelda went ahead and spoke, clasping her hands together. "I wanted to leave on a good note with you, because I worry how this may strain relations with your true daughter."

"I appreciate that," he said in a dry tone.

"I apologize for the hurtful things I've said to you, and for anything I may have done to mislead you, or make you think that I… that your daughter does not love you. You see, in my world, you are lost to me. It has been difficult for me to come to terms with your… my father's death."

Link watched the mayor, standing slightly behind Zelda. He watched the mayor, and felt a chill. He wasn't buying it.

"Zelda," he responded. "I'm worried about you. You've been talking in nonsense since you came home six months ago, you were starting to normalize and come to terms with a nasty breakup with… this gentleman, and he shows back up and now you are starting to tell these lies again!"

"They're not lies, they're the truth."

"Do you know how ridiculous this sounds? Do you?"

"Yes, I know it—

"Then why do you persist in believing it? It's not the truth!" They stared at each other from either side of the desk. Finally, the mayor picked up a pamphlet and threw it to her side of the desk, and Zelda looked at it.

"What is…" she went silent. "Kakariko Gorge Resting Home?"

"It's a facility for young people to recover from stressful situations. It doesn't mean you're crazy—

"But… you think I am." Zelda put the pamphlet back down on the desk. "I won't be going."

"You may not have a choice…" he hinted ominously.

Zelda stood up, her jaw tense. "I have every choice. I am not going. You have to prove me incapable of making decisions for myself before you can force me anywhere."

The mayor sighed heavily. "I do hope you come around. I want to help you."

Zelda wheeled and walked out, and Link followed her. They climbed into her car and she pulled into traffic, her hands tense on the wheel as her speedometer crept upwards.

"Zelda?" Link asked quietly. She forced herself to take a breath and slow down, and she glanced at him.

"I mean, what did I expect?" she said softly. "It does sound insane. I still don't believe it sometimes."

"Maybe we can't fix everything before we go, but perhaps our leaving will prove the point," he responded.

"Maybe…"

She drove around a while longer, drifting slowly through the streets. Link wandered where they were going, but he was hesitant to ask. Eventually, they ended up on a scenic road near a beach, and he looked out towards a lake with a bridge spanning its length.

"Lake Hylia?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, and that was all.

There was a knock at the door, and after a few minutes wait, the mayor put down the pamphlet he'd been studying and looked up.

"Come in."

Ganondorf opened the door and stepped in, laughing and stepping forward to shake the mayor's hand.

"Hello mayor! How's your day been?" he said, greeting him jovially.

The mayor nodded. "I've been well enough, though my daughter decided to visit."

"Your daughter?" Ganondorf exclaimed in surprise. "She's back in town, right?"

"Yes, and I'm sure you're familiar with her friend; Link Nobel."

"Didn't I prosecute him a couple weeks back? Endangering people at a restaurant, leaving the scene of a crime, resisting arrest?"

"Yes, the very one."

"What the hell is he doing consorting with your daughter?" Ganondorf sat down, leaning back in the chair and looking at the mayor quizzically.

"She claims he's there to take her home."

"This sounds very dangerous," Ganondorf said with concern.

"Very dangerous indeed," the mayor answered. "And the damndest thing is, I've met him. And he seemed so normal."

"You'd be surprised how people can change at the drop of a hat. Mental illness is a grey area we don't understand completely."

The mayor sighed deeply. "Should I…"

Ganondorf waited, his hands neatly folded and resting on one raised knee.

"Should I declare her…"

"Legally insane?"

The mayor winced. "But she's my _daughter._"

"The hardest choice to make, is often the right one," Ganondorf replied with a sagely air.

The mayor buried his face in his hands. "I just don't know where I went wrong…"

"You can't blame yourself for her problems. All you can do is try to help in the way you see it best."

"Is this the best way? It's just… when she calls me, she seems fine, like everything's okay, but she says she's still in Termina. She acts as if she is still with this character. Should I have her declared?"

Ganondorf shrugged. "That's up for you to decide. If you'd like, I'll help you file the paperwork when the time comes."

The mayor sighed and looked out the window, then back to Ganondorf. "My apologies, what did you need?"

"Oh, I wanted to see if you were interested in having lunch."

"Eh, not today. Too upset."

Ganondorf nodded sympathetically. "You know, it's funny you mention this Link Nobel."

"Oh?"

"His case may be moving up soon. If you wanted to declare Zelda legally unfit, I would do so after he's put away. He's a dangerous person and may try to stop anyone who tries to take her away."

The mayor eyed him. "You really think he'll be jailed? After all, Gaebora's representing him."

"Gaebora's case is flimsy at best. The boy has drawn your daughter into his madness; he was waving a sword in a full restaurant, for Goddesses' sake! He will be put away."

The mayor rubbed his forehead. "Maybe once he's incarcerated we can give her the help she needs, get her away from him."

"I think that's the best path."

The two men were silent. The mayor looked back up at him. "I suppose I'll need that paperwork, then."

"Of course," Ganondorf answered. He stood up and shook the mayor's hand. "I'll go get it for you."

"Thank you."

Unsure where they should go, they ended up parking Zelda's car near the boardwalk by the river that fed Lake Hylia, and sat in her car, staring out at the water. Link watched massive freighters float by, seemingly silent.

"What are those made of?"

"Steel," Zelda answered in a low voice.

Link stared at them. "They made steel float? Goddesses."

"Yeah, pretty amazing," she said, sighing.

Link looked at her; it was obvious she was still upset, and he put his hand on hers. She looked at him with a little smile. "Thank you. If it wasn't for you coming for me, I'd be stuck here forever."

"It's my duty to you."

She leaned over and kissed him, and he put a hand to her cheek, prolonging the kiss.

But they did not kiss as long as they had been, and they mutually broke away from each other, looking each other in the eye.

"What should we do?" he asked after a beat.

"What can we do?" she countered.

Link shook his head. "I wish I knew. Should we go out somewhere? Should we stay in?"

"I don't know," she grumbled.

"Hey," he nudged her.

She looked at him balefully.

"Why don't we try cooking something?"

Link was wishing he hadn't said anything; the place they were in now was falsely cheery, and the sheer amount of brightly colored packaging under bright lights and everything made him feel a little nauseous.

"What should we make? Have you ever cooked?" Zelda asked, looking at him.

"No, never."

"Well, what's easy to make and cook that we're familiar with?" she muttered, thinking.

They walked along for a few minutes, when Link turned and looked at her. "Pancakes? Do you know…"

Zelda smiled. "Pancakes. Perfect."

They wandered through the aisles, and Zelda had to stop a few times and call Link along as he got distracted. She picked up a box of pancake mix, and the milk required to make it as well as syrup and butter, and at Link's suggestion, a packet of blueberries.

Finally getting to use her pots and pans cheered Zelda up; they got home and Link greased the pan with a little butter while it heated and she made the mix. They worked on the pancakes together, with Link pouring the batter and Zelda adding in the blueberries, and though most of them burnt around the edges, Zelda declared them the best pancakes ever. Link agreed that they were fit for a queen, and she nudged him in the shoulder with a smirk. They ate the pancakes with glasses of milk and Zelda put on a movie on television, but once the food was done they paid less attention to it and more to each other.

"Even if he doesn't believe me," Zelda said quietly during a pause in their kissing, "we do. I believe that we can get home."

"I believe we can, too. We just have to wait. Though I admit I'm getting concerned; I haven't had any urge of memories in a while."

Zelda nodded. "Hopefully I can call up my own memory of our true time, perhaps we can use that."

"Should we try now?" he asked.

She thought, looking at him. "Yes, I think we should."

"Alright."

They stopped to get off the couch and gather their items. Zelda pulled her box of clothes into her lap, and Link strapped on his sword and belt. They settled back on the couch and clasped hands, and closed their eyes. He could feel the weight of her bangle on his leg, and Zelda was whispering to herself quickly, over and over, "remember, remember."

They sat for several minutes; and Zelda eventually stopped whispering. Link waited a little longer, and finally opened one eye.

Zelda was looking at him apologetically. "Nothing," she muttered.

Link squeezed her hands. "I'm sorry."

She smiled a little and lowered her head. "I was hoping I could call it up on command. I guess we're not so lucky."

She moved a little closer to him and freed one hand, touching his cheek. Link took her hand, kissing the knuckles.

"We can try again later," he assured her.

He leaned back on the couch and Zelda curled up on him. He put his arm around her shoulder, and they turned their heads back to the television.

Some hours later, after they'd fallen asleep on the couch a couple of times, Link woke up to a dimly lit apartment; the sun was starting to set. He sat up and shook Zelda gently. She groaned and joined him, rubbing her sore neck from her awkward position.

"You should lay down," he urged her. She nodded her agreement, and they got up, heading towards the bedroom. Link paused and made sure the door was locked on their way by, and Zelda continued walking. He followed at a few feet behind, waiting outside her door.

She hesitated as she was climbing into bed, and looked towards the door. She thought of calling him in right now; that had been her original plan after all. She looked down at herself though, and sighed. No matter what she wanted, above all she didn't want to push him away, and he'd shown such extreme reluctance that she knew he would not appreciate her thrusting this upon him. Zelda climbed back out and got her pajamas from the floor and pulled them on, then got back under the covers.

"Okay," she called out.

Link walked in and smiled at her, pausing in the bathroom to swill some mouthwash. Zelda burrowed under the covers, waiting for him. When he finished, Link climbed into bed with her.

"Are you comfortable in those clothes? You don't have pajamas, do you?" Zelda propped herself up.

"Ah, I can manage. I'm not really…"

She nodded. "No underwear?"

Link didn't respond.

Zelda smiled and pulled him in, resting her cheek on his pillow. Link put his arms around her. They started kissing again, their urgency picking up. They shifted around, Zelda starting to sit up and bringing Link with her. After a pause, she reluctantly straddled his waist.

He stopped kissing her and gently pushed her back. Zelda sighed in frustration and climbed off him, and pulled away completely. He leaned his head back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling. Zelda left and went into the bathroom, and she sat down on the floor, leaning against one wall and holding her breath, willing the tears in her eyes to dissolve. A small part of her, the part that she had shunned and ignored, pointed out that as much as it hurt, he was doing this for her.

She curled up a little tighter, bundling her raging emotions and packing them down inside herself.

"Are you alright?" It was Link, who'd crept into the bathroom cautiously, and crouched down in front of her with his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm…" she started, then shook her head and put a hand over her eyes.

He put his arms around her, and Zelda pushed at him, the one to push him away now.

"Either go all the way or not at all," she snapped. "I can't keep this up, not being able to be with you physically. We are just torturing ourselves every time we kiss and can't go further. And I am trying to be understanding but I cannot help it; I have the mind of a modern woman and I cannot keep denying myself for the backwards ideals of that time period."

Link waited, looking at her. She stared back at him in defiance.

"Honestly, Link, do you want me or not? Because if not, I'd rather you stay on the couch until we're able to get home."

He sighed and stood up. Zelda watched him, waiting for his reaction and keeping her face unreadable. He reached down with his hands and helped her up, and they went together back to the bed.

They made more pancakes at about two in the morning, sitting on the couch and eating in silence. As they took swigs of milk, Zelda's cell phone went off, and after a few minutes of scrambling she found it and answered.

"Hello? … Hey, Ruto. What is it? … yeah, yeah we're awake. … um, I dunno, it's kind of late. I'll… oh? Oh yeah?" She chewed her thumbnail. "I can ask him… yeah he's right here… we were sleeping. _Yes_, we were." She pulled the phone from her ear, and Link could faintly hear Ruto jeering on the other end. "Ruto wants to know if you have any interest in meeting her and Denno at Light Temple."

Link raised his eyebrows. "Now?"

Zelda shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"Well…" he thought about it. "Can you sleep?"

"I could but I don't have to. You?"

"I think I can stand a couple hours."

Zelda pulled on clean clothes, and Link shook out his pants and shirt before pulling them on, hoping it would smooth out most of the wrinkles. Zelda grabbed the few things she needed from her purse, and they left together.

They arrived at Light Temple hours later, an all-white brick building with LED lights sunk into its surface in geometric paths, tracing their way up to the roof. Zelda explained who they were with and the bouncer let them in without even asking for cash. It took a little while, but eventually they tracked down the rest of their party, mostly with the help of Denno's height.

Ruto shrieked with delight, her eyes huge and dilated, and she latched onto them both in a hug.

"I'm just glad you guys are still here!" she shouted. "It was a total fluke calling you, yeah?"

She handed them both little pills, and Link put his in his pocket. Zelda hesitated, then chewed hers up.

"So what's going on?" Zelda asked.

"Well Saria is sleeping so we needed someone sober to drive us around!"

Zelda swore. "Why didn't you say so before I took that damn pill?"

"I'm clean," Link called out. "I can drive."

"Can you?" Ruto asked. It seemed a rude question, but Link knew she meant it out of genuine curiosity.

"I can try," he answered.

"Well let's at least dance or something while we're here," Ruto replied.

Zelda grabbed Link's hand, and while that made Ruto raise an eyebrow, she left it alone when Denno came up to her to dance.

Link was able to understand the music a little better, which didn't calm him down. Instead, it left him more nervous; he had adjusted a little too easily to this place and he didn't like it. With every passing minute, he knew their chances of getting home were narrowing.

After a couple hours, Link wanted to plead rest, but Ruto commandeered him for a couple dances, which turned into another half hour. Finally, he pulled away and headed for the bar, getting a glass of water.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Denno shouted in Link's ear, joining him.

"What?" Link turned and looked at Denno in surprise.

"The girls. I mean yeah, Ruto wants nothing to do with me, really. She likes to think of us as friends."

Link nodded.

"But it's okay, you know? I like spending time with her."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well—"

Denno shifted. "Because for a while there, you and Zelda have the same thing going. You want to be with her but you can't. And it sucks—

"Denno, I'm not sure what you're talking about," Link replied. "We… kind of are together."

"Oh? Oh! Really? Well then, forget all of what I just said and enjoy it, man."

Link shook his head. "I just hope we don't regret it."

"You two are great together here. Trust me." Denno slapped Link's shoulder and headed back into the crowd, and Link stood at the bar a minute longer, wondering what in the hell just happened.

Finally, finally, Ruto said she was ready to go home. They piled in Zelda's car and Ruto insisted on turning up the radio. Zelda helped walk Link through a driving crash course, and he picked up easily on her instructions.

They dropped off Ruto, and she invited Denno to spend the night, and she would take him home in the morning. Zelda waved as Link pulled out into traffic, and she turned the radio down, yawning.

"Stay awake, please; I'll need directions to get home."

"You call it home and not my apartment," Zelda said softly, smiling.

Link shivered. "Yeah." He swallowed against his nerves.

It was after six am when they finally returned, and Zelda was humming as they went into her room. Link stopped before her bedroom door like usual, but she left the door open, pausing and turning to look at him with a smile.

He hesitated even as she waved him in, and she pulled off her shirt.

"Wait—wait." Link walked towards her, and Zelda turned, her gaze smoldering.

"Here." He turned her back around and put his fingers on a spot on her back. "You have a small scar here. You took a fall off a horse when you were younger, onto a rock. It was lucky you didn't snap your neck."

Zelda froze, and she looked at him in confusion. "What?"

"Come here." She followed him into the bathroom, and he fiddled with the mirrors there, until they could get a fairly good angle of her back. Zelda craned her head over her shoulder, bending her arm awkwardly and trying to touch the scar.

"I don't remember that," she said quietly. "Oh Goddesses, I don't…"

Zelda gasped and looked at Link.

"What have I been doing? What am I—oh. Oh." She wrapped her arms protectively around herself, and set her jaw. Link thought he could almost see her switching between personalities; the passionate Zelda of this world, and the intelligent and calm Zelda he knew so well.

"Please get my robe from the back of the door," she commanded. Link grabbed it for her, wrapping it around her body. Zelda tied the belt tight and she looked at Link, her eyes wide. "I'm sorry. Oh… what have we done."

"Your Majesty." He touched her cheek, and Zelda took his hand away, dropping it.

"Are you sure that… it hasn't been what you wanted?"

She sighed. "I do not know anymore."

Zelda laid down in her bed, alone, and Link went to sleep on the couch that night.

He woke up only a few hours later to a furious pounding on the door. Zelda came dashing out from her bedroom, still wrapped up in her robe, and opened the door. Saria rushed in with wide-eyed panic, clutching an envelope and hunting for Link.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, his heart sinking.

Saria thrust the envelope at him, already torn open, and he removed the piece of paper inside.

ATTN: Link Nobel

RE: Court Date

To Mr. Nobel,

We wish you to know that your court date for case number 75032289 has been moved from Augiste 18th to Jole 26th at 9:00 am. Please report to Court Room D7 at City Hall. Should there be any conflict with this change, please contact City Hall at

He stopped reading and looked at Zelda. "Jole 26th."

"That's tomorrow," she said. His look of shock struck her. "Oh Goddesses, they moved your date."

They dressed quickly and sped to Gaebora's law office. Irritatingly, they were put on a waiting list, and Link was constantly fidgeting while the next person and the next went into the inner sanctum of Gaebora's office. It took near an hour until he was finally able to get in. Zelda followed him into the room and Link didn't even stop for pleasantries or greetings.

"They moved my court date," he said, all in one breath.

Gaebora adjusted his glasses and nodded sagely. "I am aware." He invited Link to sit down. "Keep calm, it doesn't mean anything bad. It happens all the time."

"How could they have moved it up? They need his consent," Zelda said.

Gaebora folded his hands. "The D.A.'s office wanted it moved up, I agreed. I felt it would be best to get this over with quickly. Wouldn't you prefer that?"

"Why did he want it moved?"

"Supposedly, the D.A. has other engagements that day, and wished to get what he feels is a minor case out of the way."

"But so soon?" Zelda countered.

"Like I said, wouldn't you prefer to have it over and done with?"

"But what if we lose?" Link snapped.

Gaebora looked at him for a long time, pondering. "Well, I'll volley for time served, then for appeals—

"We don't have that kind of time! He can't spend any time in jail!" Zelda shouted.

"Calm down, Miss Harkinian," Gaebora ordered. "I understand that as well as you do. No one wants to spend any time incarcerated."

"No, he literally can't. We have to get home. We cannot lose, I cannot have him carted off to jail."

"That is up to the jury, and you know that. Now, as I imagine you would know, I have not been able to back up my theory on a misunderstanding brought on by a low blood sugar reaction, medically, at least. However, I still think it is our best defense in pleading your case."

"Even if we don't have proof?" Zelda asked sharply. "It would be our word against the restaurant management's, the witnesses…"

"People do odd things when they are delirious. Those dying from hypothermia will frequently strip naked—

"But he wasn't dying! He was panicked!"

Gaebora continued to speak in measured tones, but his voice grew firmer, as if explaining a point to a child. "We have very few options; either we vouch that he has a mental illness, which will get him hauled to a psych ward, we claim that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol which can bring on additional charges, or we can claim deliriousness on account of lack of food at the time of the incident. Given that it was a restaurant, this makes the most sense to me."

"What if we told the truth?" Link asked.

Gaebora watched him steadily. "And what is the truth, Mr. Nobel?"

Link hesitated, so Zelda spoke up. "That he's from another dimension. A separate timeline."

Gaebora looked between them both. "Didn't I tell you that an insanity defense will possibly get him incarcerated?"

"But it's the truth!" Link protested.

"If it is the truth, if it's as mad as that, you will not win this case."

It was clear that he had nothing more to offer them, and Link hesitantly stepped back. Zelda remained rooted in the chair, and Gaebora stared her down, until she finally, slowly, stood and left with Link.

They said nothing on the ride to her place, and almost mechanically, they sat down on opposite ends on the couch, and stared at the blank television.

"What'll we do?" he asked her.

"All we can do, is proceed with the trial, and hope for the best. Stay calm and state the truth."

"Even if the truth is insane."

"Yes."

They looked at each other, and Link reached for Zelda's hand. After a few minutes' pause, she gave it to him.

"Was everything about the past few days a mistake?" he asked her. "Honestly?"

"If it was, it was a mistake that… I'm glad we made. But we can't go back now."

"Not from here, I suppose."

"No."

"Then we have to go forward, don't we?"

"Yes. And that means…" she sighed in exasperation, "facing this trial."

He squeezed her hand, and they laced their fingers together. Link turned and pulled her in, and they kissed.

"We'll get through this together," she said softly, smiling at him.

Impa was sitting at her desk at City Hall and looking through the paper, when she felt a bristling at the back of her neck and turned her head sharply. "Oh," she muttered, eyeing Ganondorf. "What do you want?"

"Oh nothing, just passing by," he responded coolly. "Have some paperwork for the mayor to sign."

Impa felt a chill as she looked at the innocuous papers. "Oh? What for?"

"Ah, you know. His daughter is crazier than a bat on fire."

"Wait, is he having her declared insane?" Impa turned to face him in full, setting down her pen.

"Yeah, guess he's going to send her to a rest home. Kinda sad to see, but oh well, what can you do?"

Ganondorf chuckled and headed down the hall. Impa waited for five seconds, then she turned to her computer and began searching for Zelda's phone number in the employee and temp database. She stopped herself; this was the same thing she'd been wanting to do, and had almost done last night. But she hated Ganondorf and thought he was a sneak, and suspected he would spin this to his advantage, somehow. It was irrational, she realized that, but she wanted Zelda to get actual help, not shut away in a resting home for years. She feared that was the mayor's daughter fate, just a problem to be tucked away and forgotten, and she felt sure that was how this would end. Though she had to work with him, she loathed Ganondorf, though she never really could place why, and thought he had something to do with the mayor's sudden decision. Impa glanced at Zelda's cell number on the screen.

"The girl is sick," she muttered to herself. She closed the window, and went back to work.

They didn't sleep much; Link stayed out on the couch again, and Zelda laid in her bed alone. Zelda sighed and left her bed, heading to the kitchen for water and stopping when she saw Link was definitely awake.

"Don't be nervous," she said, going and sitting at his feet on the couch. Link sat up.

"Honestly, from all you've learned studying law, how good of a chance do I have?" he asked her.

Zelda sighed. "Not a very good one. I mean, this blood sugar defense; it's total bull. He has no proof you have such a condition, and anything he would admit to prove it, if it's found false it will ruin the case." She sighed. "And I've been with you almost constantly, I know he has never come for you to have your blood tested."

Link straightened. "Maybe we should try one last time, to summon a memory, and get home."

"Okay." She got their things together in a pile on their laps, and they took each other's hands. The two of them closed their eyes, and Link let his mind wander.

Zelda went very tense, and he could hear her breathing through her mouth, murmuring about a center or remember or some other word.

But nothing.

Zelda sighed in frustration. "I can't understand the way this works," she muttered. "It's so random and spontaneous."

"Well, we've determined before that it is triggered by a familiar sight or sound. Isn't that why you're keeping that clasp on you, as a talisman?"

She looked down at the bangle then up at him. "Should we go for a walk?"

"In the middle of the night?"

"Why not?"

So they pulled on their shoes and headed out.

The city was utterly dead. The traffic lights were blinking yellow one way, and red the other. Now and again a car drove by them, but they didn't meet anyone on the street. They wandered through the city towards the fountain in silence. Zelda looked into the waters at the dozens of coins scattered at the bottom.

"We should come here after the trial tomorrow," she said quietly.

"Why is that?"

"Has this fountain changed at all?"

Link paused, thinking back, dredging up the memories that were harder and harder to recall.

"… no. I don't believe so." He looked at her. "Does it…"

She had her eyes closed, and one hand was towards the fountain, and she was pointing in one direction. "I can see the children," she whispered. "The urchins, orphans, abandoned bastards. They play in this fountain in the summer."

Link grabbed onto her, thinking that she was starting to flicker. And she did, a little bit, and he began to flicker with her. He could see as she saw; the cobble streets which were now paved over, the old buildings of chiseled stone instead of mass-produced brick. He even thought he could smell the old town. Zelda gasped a little, and suddenly kicked her foot into the stone sides of the fountain.

She yelped in pain and let go of Link, falling over.

"Zelda!" he shouted in surprise, leaning down to her. "What did you do? You okay?"

"Not yet, just not yet." She groaned and held her foot.

"Surely there had to have been a smarter way to keep yourself from going," he said, chastising her. "Do you think the toes are broken?"

"No… at least, I hope not." She sighed. "I'm an idiot."

"Definitely not your smartest moment."

He looked at the fountain, then at her.

"Take off your shoes. The cold water will help."

They ended up sitting at the fountain for a while, Zelda's feet in the cool water, and Link sitting the other way next to her.

"I think my feet are getting numb," she said softly.

"Alright then. Let's get you home. We should probably try to get some sleep, anyway."

She stood and brushed away the water on her feet, giving them a little shake before putting her shoes back on. They headed back, taking their time.

"Maybe we'll be able to sleep, this time," he suggested.

They took a few more steps, and Zelda looked at him. "If you want… I think I'd sleep better if you were nearby."

Link looked back. "Are you sure I won't make you feel uncomfortable?"

Zelda shook her head. "It still isn't right, and I know that. But… it's a little too late to try to do the right thing now." She slipped her hand into his.

They walked a little longer in silence, then

"Even if we lose the case, I will find any way I can to take you away before they haul you to jail."

"I certainly hope you can move fast," he replied. "Especially with your foot."

She stopped and looked him dead in the face. "We will get home. Together."

They returned to her apartment, and Zelda invited him to her room. He followed her, knowing that even if they did get off scot-free, they had no actual proof they would return to the proper time. They could be lost forever even if they won the trial. This was a sobering thought, as he realized he could be facing his final hours of life.

Zelda sat on the edge of the bed as she disrobed, facing away from him and towards the windows. He watched her, and after a beat, he began to undo his shirt as well. She watched his reflection, and looked at him over her shoulder.

He shook off the shirt and climbed into bed with her. Zelda got into her pajamas and climbed in, turning towards him. "Alarm is set for eight," she murmured. "Should give us time to get cleaned up."

"Alright then." He glanced at the clock. They wouldn't get much sleep, but that would be a problem for tomorrow. They kissed a few times, and Link pulled Zelda in closer, lifting himself up over her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes bright.

"If everything should go wrong tomorrow, I don't want any regrets."

She smiled, and nodded her agreement.


	8. Ethereal Wave

Eight a.m., and the mayor was meeting with a woman from Kakariko Gorge Rest Home.

"Of course sir, when we recognized your name, we knew how very important it would be to handle this with utmost discretion. Your daughter will not be dragged from her home screaming and thrown into a padded room. We work with the emotionally fractured, and help to rehabilitate them and develop coping mechanisms to find their place in the world."

"I thank you for taking this at such high priority. How much is the monthly fee?"

Anju smiled and held out a brochure. "We have several payment plans, including monthly, bimonthly, biannual, and annual. They can be debited automatically from your account, or you can choose to come in and pay them in person. The amount is determined by what sort of work we need to do, which we can figure from having a discussion with the guest."

"Guest?"

"We do not have patients. Patients are for hospitals, for the truly sick and dying. Our guests are only there for a short time, until they are ready to go of their own accord."

"I only filed the paperwork yesterday to have her declared..."

"We can take her to our facility today, if she is willing to go, and do a brief psychological analysis. If we determine there is a true need for her to stay in our facilities, we will ask her to stay while you wait on the paperwork. But as you know, we cannot force her to do so. All we can do is ask."

The mayor sighed heavily, looking at the brochure, the billing information, the placid descriptions of the grounds.

"Is she coming here, sir?" Anju asked after a pause.

"Uh, no. No. Her… friend, this accomplice of hers who is making her… what was…?"

"Emotionally fractured."

"Yes, um, this gentleman has a trial today. I know she will be there early, so we can talk to her beforehand and see if she will come along, but she may want to wait until after the trial. I just worry that he has something on her that she can't escape from."

Anju smiled. "Then I will meet you at the courthouse."

"Thank you."

Eight-thirty a.m., and Zelda and Link were showering, while his clothes went through the laundry. They kissed longingly under the steaming water, knowing that very soon, they may never be able to see each other again.

"I love you," she murmured in his ear as they pressed their bodies together.

"I love you," he assured her, wrapping his arms around her waist.

Nine a.m., and they were clean and dressed and had breakfast. After a thought, Link buckled his belt around his waist. They headed to Zelda's car to get to the courthouse.

Nine a.m., and Saria was rushing down to her car, on the phone with Ruto.

"Yeah, it's at 10. I know traffic is gonna be hell so I want to get there a little early and see if I can find a good spot."

"Yeah, good luck with that," grumbled Ruto. "You shoulda just had me pick you up."

"Well, I know, but…"

"Hey I'm about to get in the car, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Wha—

But Ruto had hung up. Saria stared at her phone in surprise. "But she has a limo driver..."

9:35 a.m., and Link was sitting just outside the court room, where another case was presiding. Gaebora sat next to him, looking over his paperwork and double-checking that everything was filed. Zelda sat on Link's other side, and was holding Link's hand, her eyes half-closed. Anyone would think that she was doing so with the intent of giving comfort, but Link could faintly hear her whispering under her breath, trying to will a memory out of thin air regardless.

9:42a.m., and Saria came running up, out of breath. "Link!" she cried out, and Zelda snapped out of her concentration to look up. Link also looked up, and he nodded grimly at Saria.

She hugged them both, tears in her eyes. "Oh Goddesses, you guys."

"We're just glad you could make it," Zelda replied, hugging her back.

"Thank you for coming, Saria," Link said, grasping her hand and squeezing.

Gaebora looked up in interest. "Saria? Saria Greenleaf?"

She tensed. "Uh, yes?"

"You were the one who bailed out Mr. Nobel, correct? I have you listed as a witness in my paperwork."

"What?" Saria balked in surprise.

"Didn't you get the subpoena?"

"No, I wasn't…" Saria looked at Gaebora in alarm, and he stood up.

"Come on; we'll have to put you with the other witnesses." He gestured for one of the armed guards patrolling City Hall, and one asked Saria to follow him. She hesitated, but Link gave her a gentle push. "You have to."

"Wait!" Zelda stood up, and handed Saria her car keys. "As soon as the trial ends, get to my car and pull out front, as soon as you can."

Saria clenched her hand tight around the keys. "But…"

"Your deathtrap is a four cylinder, Saria."

9:48 a.m., and the mayor approached them. "Zelda," he said, blatantly ignoring Link.

"Hello, father," she replied, getting up and hugging him quickly. Link was fine with being ignored; he was staring down the redhaired woman at the mayor's side.

"Can we go for a walk?" the mayor asked.

"I'd… rather not," Zelda said, looking at Anju and then back to her father suspiciously. "Link's trial is starting soon and I'd like to be there to support him."

"It will only take a few minutes."

"Hello Zelda, I'm Anju Yeats," she said, stepping forward and holding out her hand. Zelda reluctantly shook hands with her, but she kept her face inscrutable.

"Father, this trial is important to me. I will walk with you afterwards if you want to talk."

Anju was smiling and Link could feel her false cheeriness on the air. He reached and took Zelda's hand tightly.

"It'll only be for a minute. Your father has something very important he'd like to discuss with you."

"After. The. Trial." Zelda's tone was calm, but she bit off each word, looking between the two of them.

Anju put a hand to the mayor's arm. "Alright then. We will meet you out front afterwards. It was nice to meet you."

Zelda remained standing as they walked away, watching after them.

9:58 a.m., and the previous case let out, finally. Link watched a young man being led away in handcuffs and sobbing, and he felt a chill, knowing it could be him. Gaebora immediately stood up, and when there was no longer a rush of people from the courtroom, they went in.

Ganondorf was already at the prosecutor's table with his paperwork set up; presumably he had just been involved in the case previous. Link kept an eye on him surreptitiously, grinding his teeth together. Zelda had to stop at the banister separating the viewers from the proceedings, and she sat directly behind Link, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder.

Ruto came in not too much later with Denno in tow, sitting next to Zelda and also reaching up to pat his back. "We're here for you," she told him, and Link thanked her. He turned to look, and saw several people, namely Saria, coming into the court room now. He recognized some of the other people with her, but he couldn't place them, except for the restaurant maitre d', and the manager, who came up and sat at the table with Ganondorf. He said something low to Ganondorf and laughed a little, glancing around. His smile flickered when he saw Link.

"Please ensure all phones are off," called out one of the guards, looking around. Link thought he heard Ruto grumbling under her breath as her phone turned off with a little tune. "Please rise for Honorable Judge Ping."

All stood up as a small man wearing heavy black robes walked into the room and took his seat in the judge's chair, banging his gavel immediately. "Please be seated," he called out in a bored tone. "Case number 75032289, Sakon's Restaurant against Link Nobel, how does the defendant plead?"

"Not guilty," Gaebora answered immediately.

"Alright, please give your statement."

"Your Honor," Gaebora said, standing. "My client has no prior convictions on his record. Do you not think this is a bit extreme for a first charge? The usual pattern is for such an extreme incident to be a follow up to several smaller incidents."

The judge sighed. "Is that all you can say? You may have a dog that has never bitten before, but does that mean it never will?"

Link looked down at his hands, feeling cold.

"No, Your Honor." Gaebora cleared his throat. "I believe that a temporary lapse of judgement due to low blood sugar is what upset my client, as well as being briefly held against his will by the plaintiff."

"Very well. Your statement, Mr. Dragmire?"

Ganondorf stood up and adjusted his tie. "Your Honor, Mr. Nobel fully intended to go into that restaurant and cause bodily harm to those people, out of some maliciousness towards the restaurant owner."

"I don't even know—" Link started to shout.

"Mr. Nobel, you will hold your tongue until it is your turn to speak," Judge Ping ordered.

Ganondorf glanced at Link, and he flinched slightly when he realized that not only was Link projecting pure hatred for him, but he felt it in return for the innocuous man at that table, and he could not place why. He'd honestly never seen him before in his life.

The judge sighed. "Very well, call up the first witness."

Ganondorf grinned, and the meat of the trial began.

"Ms. Chase, where were you on the night of Jole 18th, at 6:17pm?"

The young woman on the stand fidgeted slightly. "I was… at Sakon's, meeting someone on a date. He hadn't shown up."

Ganondorf started to slowly pace from one side of the court room to the other. "Ms. Chase, did you see the accused at the restaurant?"

"Yes. I was sitting and I saw him talking to the maitre d', then I saw him being led to the back of the restaurant. I thought he was being taken to the bathroom."

"When did you next see the accused?"

"Um, he was running from the back, and he had a really big sword out and was holding it."

"Was he threatening any patrons with the sword?"

"No."

Ganondorf thought. "Did he act delirious in any way?"

"I… can't say. I don't even know him," she said sheepishly.

"No further questions." Ganondorf went and sat back down.

Gaebora stood up, clearing his throat. "Ms. Chase, are you a medical professional?"

"Objection!"

The judge looked at Ganondorf.

"Relevancy, Your Honor?"

Gaebora also looked at Ganondorf, then to the judge.

"I'm sure Mr. Gaebora asks this for an important reason, Mr. Dragmire. Overruled. Please answer the question."

The witness hesitated. "Uh… no."

"Are you a professional metalsmith?"

"No."

"So then, with your… lack of professional accuracy, could you definitively say my client was carrying a weapon made of live steel, meant for bodily harm?"

"Uh… no."

"Could you say that he was in his right mind, and not suffering from deliriousness due to having not eaten?"

"No…"

"Is it possible, then, that it could have been a prop sword for a costume party?"

"Objection! Leading the witness," Ganondorf called, standing.

Judge Ping sighed. "Sustained. Reword your question, Mr. Gaebora."

Gaebora nodded in agreement. "No further questions, Your Honor."

"Ms. Chase, you may take a seat. Thank you for your testimony. Next witness."

And for a while, it went on like that. The restaurant patrons gave similar testimony; only one of them was a medical professional, and while he said it did not seem as if Link was in his right mind, such situations affected everyone differently, and he would not be able to give honest testimony as to Link's condition at the time of the incident.

Saria was called to the stand by Gaebora, and she glanced back at Link, offering him a little nod. She sat down at the stand, and kept her hands on her knees, wiping the sweat from her palms. The bailiff presented her with a golden plaque of the Triforce, and she put her hand on it, her fingers touching each individual triangle.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you in the name of the Goddess Farore?"

"I swear."

"State your full name for the record."

"Saria Magnolia Greenleaf."

"Thank you."

The bailiff stepped back, and the judge gestured towards Gaebora. "Your witness."

Gaebora stood and offered Saria a jovial smile.

"Miss Greenleaf, how do you know the accused?"

She fidgeted a little. "We went to school together, starting from primary."

"So you can safely say you know him fairly well."

"Yes."

"Has he ever shown signs, in your opinion, of mental illness?"

"N… no."

Gaebora cleaned his glasses as he came up with his next question. "You bailed Mr. Nobel out that night, correct?"

"Yes, he uh… named me as next of kin."

"If you believed him to be a dangerous character, who would storm into a restaurant with a weapon and threaten innocent lives, would you have bailed him out?"

Saria shook her head. "No, I wouldn't."

"No more questions, Your Honor."

After a beat, Ganondorf stood up. Saria looked at him and Link could tell at a glance that she felt the same prickle of revulsion.

"Miss Greenleaf, you say you know the accused well."

"Yes."

"Then supposedly, you knew that he had left Hyrule a few years back, and moved to Termina."

"Yes."

"Did he tell you why he came back to Hyrule?"

"Objection, relevancy," Gaebora called out.

"Sustained." Judge Ping eyed Ganondorf. He switched tactics.

"You kept in touch with Mr. Nobel while he was in Termina, correct?"

"Um, off and on. There's a two-hour time difference, so I called when I could."

"And he seemed mentally alright?"

"Well, yeah."

"You say you work for Kokiri Labs. Presumably you are studying biology, not psychology?"

Saria clenched her hands.

"Answer the question, Miss Greenleaf," said the judge after a beat.

"Yes. I am studying biology."

Ganondorf walked up to the witness stand, his hands behind his back. "So you have little familiarity with the human psyche. For example, you would not be able to tell if someone were of sound mind or not, especially in a phone call."

Saria glowered at him, and took a deep breath. "No, I wouldn't."

Ganondorf stepped back and started pacing, rubbing his chin.

"When were you aware Mr. Nobel was in town?"

"When I was called to bail him out."

"Not before then."

"No."

"Did he indicate he was staying nearby?"

"No."

"So where has he been staying?"

"At… my apartment. Off and on."

"Did Mr. Nobel have any luggage with him?"

"No."

"Did he bring anything else with him? Money, identification…"

Saria looked at her hands. "No."

"So… Mr. Nobel was wandering around in a costume, carrying a live weapon, with no identification or money, and nowhere to stay. He did not inform anyone of his arrival, not even his next of kin."

"Objection, leading the witness," Gaebora called back.

Judge Ping raised his eyebrows and looked between the two.

"Your Honor," Ganondorf started. "I only wish to state the facts as they are."

"You are goading Miss Greenleaf to admit that my client was carrying a live weapon. We have not proved such as of yet."

"Do we have the weapon in evidence?" the judge asked.

"No, Your Honor," Gaebora answered.

Link turned his head carefully, looking at Zelda. She dipped her head slightly; the sword was in her car, wrapped up in an old blanket and tucked into the trunk.

"So we won't be able to prove its status as deadly or not."

"Your Honor, we do, in fact, have the weapon in evidence," Ganondorf said with a smirk.

"_What?_" whispered Zelda in shock. Link's eyes went wide. How the hell was it possible?

"Please bailiff, retrieve the weapon," Ganondorf asked.

The bailiff left into a side room, and a few minutes later, he returned carrying Link's sword. Saria's eyes went very wide and she glanced at Link in a panic.

"I would like this marked Exhibit 1, Your Honor," Ganondorf said, as the bailiff handed up the sheathed weapon. The judge looked it over and withdrew the sword partially from its sheath, raising his eyebrows, then put it back and returned it to Ganondorf.

"Miss Greenleaf, I am handing you Exhibit 1 for identification," he said, turning and handing it to her. She simply held it in her hands, staring.

"Do you recognize this item?"

"Uh…" she fidgeted. "Yeah."

"What is it, please?"

"A… sword."

"Whose?"

"Link's."

"Mr. Nobel?"

"Yes."

"That is all."

He took the sword back. Saria rushed from the witness stand and sat next to Ruto. Ruto put her arm around her shoulder.

"Your Honor, I move that Exhibit 1 be introduced into evidence."

"I'll allow it," the judge replied. Ganondorf took his spot before the bench, facing to the crowd, the sword still in his hands.

"I would like to call to the witness stand Mr. Edward Klyng, please."

An older gentleman, who walked slowly and with a cane, approached the stand and took his seat. He swore on the Triforce and stated his full name, then

"Mr. Klyng, what is your profession?"

"I am retired," he said in a deeper voice than expected, "but before then I was a historian at the Hylian Museum of Culture."

"What was your specialty there?"

"Weapons and armor of the early to late ages of Hyrule, specifically live steel."

"So, swords."

"Yes."

Ganondorf handed over Link's sword. "Would you be able to identify if this is a live steel blade or a prop blade?"

"Oh, most certainly," Mr. Klyng answered. He withdrew the sword with shaking hands, looking at the blade and testing its edges with his thumb. He nodded a little to himself and sheathed it, looking over the general construction of the sheath.

"How do you find the item in question, Mr. Klyng?" Ganondorf asked.

"Honestly, if this is a replica, it is one of the best I've ever seen."

"Could a person be injured with this item?"

Mr. Klyng looked it over, adjusting his glasses. "Oh yes, most certainly."

"That is all." Ganondorf stepped away.

"I am unsure what the procedure is with evidence after the fact, but I do believe the curator may be interested in taking a look at this item. I think it could make a great addition to our exhibit," the old man said suddenly, looking up towards the judge.

"Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Klyng. The defense?"

Gaebora folded his hands. "No questions, Your Honor."

"I now call to the stand Mr. Sakon Chiff."

Again, the swear-in, the giving of the full name.

"Can you detail for us the events of the night in question?"

Sakon leaned back, quite casual and relaxed. "Of course. I was at my restaurant, and my maitre d' comes back with the accused in tow, very concerned. The young man had claimed to be looking for someone, and the maitre d' had brought him to the office to use our phone without frightening customers. We tried to get information from him about a caretaker, but he could give us nothing more consistent than a woman with long blond hair."

Zelda went very rigid.

"When we continued to question him, he grew irate, threatened us with his sword, and stormed out, presumably to go after our customers."

Link bit his lower lip to keep from jumping up and calling Sakon a liar. But he did, at least, lean over to Gaebora and whisper, "he's exaggerating. I was being held against my will."

"Alright, alright. Save it for when you're called up," he hissed in return.

"We called the cops immediately after."

Ganondorf nodded. "Thank you." He went and sat down, and Gaebora stood up.

"Mr. Chiff, when did you ask my client for any information about a caretaker?"

"We asked him who he wanted us to call."

"And he told you explicitly the name of a rest home or a half-way house."

Sakon cleared his throat. "No."

"Who exactly, did he say to contact?"

"He didn't say to contact anyone, actually."

"So then, why did you take the young man into the manager's office?"

"To be out of the way of customers."

"Why?"

"We have a narrow hallway at the door, and with his odd dress, we felt it was best to keep him out of sight of our clientele."

"You said he came in looking for someone. You could not have simply said that you hadn't seen the person in question?"

"Well…"

"Instead, you chose to hide him in the back of your restaurant for no reason, and hold him against his will, which may very well have led to panic?"

"Objection! Badgering!" Ganondorf shouted, standing.

"I withdraw the question," Gaebora said coolly. He lingered a bit longer, then, "Did he give you the name of the person he was looking for?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

Sakon shifted his gaze. "Zelda Harkinian. I thought maybe he was looking for her to attack her. I was doing this city a service."

Gaebora turned and looked at his client, then Zelda right behind him. He turned back. "Mr. Chiff, are you an officer?"

"No, that's—

"Is it not possible that my client could have been separated from his friend while returning from a party?"

Sakon looked at his hands.

"Answer the question, please," ordered the judge.

"Yes," he muttered after a minute. "Bu- but he did draw his sword!"

Gaebora shrugged. "No further questions."

He shuffled his papers around. "I call Mr. Link Nobel to the stand," he announced.

Link stood up and walked up to the stand with his head held high. He sat down and kept focused dead ahead. He swore the truth to Farore, gave his full name, and then his battle began.

"Please tell the court what occurred on the night in question."

Link hesitated. He had sworn to tell the truth, but on the other hand, he did not want to sound insane. He cut it off.

"I… approached the plaintiff's restaurant to ask if they had seen a friend of mine. The maitre d' asked me into the back, where I was asked who I was looking for. The maitre d' accused me to the manager of being mentally ill, which I took offense to. I asked that they let me leave, but they refused, trying to call sanitoriums to send me away. I drew my sword and asked again, and they finally let me go. From there I walked through the restaurant and out, and left the building."

"Did you at any point make threats to anyone?"

He hesitated, and Gaebora nodded very slightly.

"I did gesture towards the other gentleman with my sword, but once he let me out I left. I did not threaten any of the patrons."

Gaebora smiled. "No more questions."

Ganondorf stood up, and Link's adrenaline surged through him.

"Quite a sharp memory you have. Why were you carrying a sword around? Especially, as has been determined by an expert witness, a sharp sword."

"It was for show." Link answered simply.

"Awfully sharp for a prop."

Link stayed silent, and Ganondorf paused, looking at him with smoldering hate. He could grab the boy by the hair and slam his face—

"Any further questions, Mr. Dragmire?"

"Yes, Your Honor." He cleared his throat and shook his head with a frown. "Why did you enter this restaurant?"

"It was the first place I came to that looked open."

"Why were you looking for Miss Harkinian?"

Link decided to seize on the seed Gaebora had offered. "We were walking back together from a party."

"You took a live sword to a party?"

He hesitated. Slowly, then, "Yes. I… had it secured."

"But you freed it easily when you threatened the host at the restaurant?"

Link did not answer.

"Answer the question, Mr. Nobel."

"No."

"No, you did not free it easily?" Ganondorf asked.

"I refuse to answer the question." Link folded his arms.

"Answer the question or I shall hold you in contempt," the judge ordered.

Link looked towards his sword, sitting innocuously on the evidence table.

"Yes."

"Seems as if that takes a great deal of strength, especially if the item was secured for walking through the streets and taking to a party."

"Even a good soldier should be able to get to his sword." Link retorted suddenly.

Ganondorf approached him at a slow pace. "Do you believe you are a soldier?"

Link looked at his hands. "Well." He thought. "Yes."

Ganondorf was repressing a grin, and Link did not enjoy the sight of that.

"Where was this party you and Miss Harkinian were coming from?"

"At a friend's," Link said quickly.

"What friend's?"

"R… Ruto's."

"Miss Ruto Clearwater?"

"Yes."

Ruto sat up straighter.

"How did you get to Hyrule from Termina?"

Link could feel his palms sweating. "We flew."

"They allowed live steel on the plane, even in baggage claims?"

"They saw it was secured."

"Do you have any proof of such a plane trip?"

"No."

"Did you two agree to meet at Sakon's before leaving the party?"

"Yes."

"How were you planning to pay with no money?"

"My wallet was in Zelda's car in a separate set of clothes."

"But you had no other overnight supplies?"

"In her car as well."

"And you never picked up your items from Zelda's car?"

"I did."

"But she didn't come bail you out, Saria did, and didn't even know you were here at this party?"

"Yes."

"Had you been drinking at this party?"

"No."

Ganondorf nodded his head, still grinning.

"And yet, in Miss Greenleaf's testimony, you had nothing, no money, no identification, no extra clothing."

Saria raised her hand, and the judge looked at her in bewilderment. "Miss Greenleaf, this is not a class. Keep your hand down."

Ganondorf looked at her in amusement, then back to Link.

"I will remind you that you are under oath, Mr. Nobel."

Link stared at him. "Zelda brought my clothes around the next day, at Saria's."

Ganondorf nodded. "So. No drinking, no eating, and costumes. What sort of party was this, Mr. Nobel?"

"Objection on grounds of speculation, the type of party should have no bearing on the case of self-defense."

"Objection on grounds of misleading, this is a case of attempted assault, not self-defense."

"Approach the bench, both of you," Ping ordered. Ganondorf and Gaebora did as asked. "I sustain both of your objections; this is a case of attempted assault, but the type of party does not have relevancy to this trial." He folded his hands, looking them both in the eye.

"Yes, Your Honor," they muttered in unison. Ganondorf resumed his pacing, and Gaebora sat back down.

"Mr. Nobel, when held against your will, did you or did you not threaten the maitre d' with your sword?"

Link gripped his knees. "Yes, I did."

Ganondorf grinned broadly. "No more questions."

The judge adjusted his glasses. "Closing statements."

11:20 a.m., and the jury had gone in to deliberate. Link turned around to Zelda, whose eyes were huge with worry. He could hear Ganondorf and Sakon talking in low tones about something.

"Link," Saria whispered. "I blew it."

"No. You did fine. I tried too hard to keep to a story."

Zelda put her hand on Link's.

"You did the best you could."

"How do you think we did?"

"Well…"

But before she could answer, the jury had reappeared, filing in one after another. Link watched them coming in and sitting down, his heart pounding. He saw them almost as executioners. He bristled.

Ganondorf and Sakon straightened. Link turned the right way around, and hoped that something would happen; someone would call out, say 'wait! there's something we hadn't considered!'. Maybe Zelda would grab onto him, and they would be pulled away in a memory. Even Ganondorf suddenly bursting into his true form and charging around the courtroom would be welcome.

Link looked at Ganondorf with hard eyes, almost willing him to do it. Ganondorf felt the strength of that stare and turned, looking at Link. He looked away with a snort.

The jury was seated. The judge adjusted his weight in his seat. "Have you come to a decision?"

"Yes, Your Honor," said the first person in the first row, closest to the judge's bench.

"In the trial of Sakon's Café versus Link Nobel, what is the jury's verdict?"

She cleared her throat. "We find the defendant guilty of all charges, Your Honor."

Ruto shrieked. Zelda stood up, her heart in her throat. Gaebora immediately began to fish out paperwork to file for appeals.

"Order! Order!" shouted Ping. It didn't work quite so well on Ruto.

"You stupid fucks!" she shouted.

"Miss Clearwater, I will hold you in contempt of court!"

Denno pulled Ruto down into her chair, and Zelda put her hand on Ruto's shoulder.

"Mr. Nobel, you have been found guilty of one count of attempted assault. Therefore, I sentence you to sixteen months in Hylia Correctional Facility, with no appeal for eight months."

Link stood, but before he could get much farther, the bailiffs were on him and he was being handcuffed.

"Zelda!" he shouted, looking at her. She tried to follow him, but was also stopped by a bailiff. Ruto, meanwhile, was being held tight by Denno.

Zelda was ready to burst into tears herself, but she held them down.

"I'll follow you to the prison, and we can talk from there about what to do," she assured him. Then, no longer able to watch, she turned away to leave.

"Where's Saria?" she asked Ruto, turning back.

The officers led Link out through a side door, taking him to a small parking lot on one side of the building, where a cop car was waiting.

He took a deep breath as they pushed him further and further towards the opened door, yawning like a hole for a grave.

He looked around desperately. There was a large gate that the vehicle was pointing towards, with a large (closed) door for the vehicle, and a smaller one to its right, presumably for just people. If his sense of direction was on, he should be able to get through that door and he would end up running to the front of the courthouse.

In the time it took him to think of this, they were another three steps closer to the car.

Link kicked backward with one foot, sweeping the foot out from under the officer. As the other one started to turn, he swept his leg forward, knocking the other off his feet. Then, he took off running. Some enterprising government employee who chose to ignore the "DO NOT PROP OPEN" sign above the small door had kept it propped open, presumably to sneak in and out of there for a smoke break. Link rammed his shoulder into the door and kept running.

He was out front of the courthouse, and at first people stared because he was running. Then they stared because he was handcuffed, and the guards around the courthouse gave chase.

Zelda wasn't far behind; she was running. She spied Saria's shitty green car almost at the same time Link did, and Saria was already throwing open the doors on Link's side.

"Zelda!"

She whipped her head and saw her father and Anju coming for her.

"Zelda, wait!"

She turned her head back and ran to Saria's car, fighting off the cops who threatened to detain her as well, and managed to climb in. Saria was already speeding into traffic before Zelda got the door shut.

"Why the hell aren't we taking my car?" she cried.

"I was parked closer!"

She pulled into traffic and immediately started pulling multiple lane changes, trying to keep ahead of the cops as carefully as she could.

"The fountain, take us to the fountain," Zelda urged her.

"It's gonna take a while—"

"Saria, I am giving you my Goddesses-damned car, fucking wreck this thing if you have to! Just don't kill us and get to the fountain!"

Saria pulled into the left lane abruptly, cutting off a car. She then rode directly on the bumper of every car in front of her, making left turns when the light was red (as long as there was no traffic), and basically ruining a long driving life of careful, defensive maneuvers.

Someone had blessed them that day, and they reached an open stretch of road, hitting almost every single green. The sirens were going off behind them in the distance, but Saria just turned up her music louder. Link kept himself braced in the back with his legs wedged under Zelda's seat. Saria kept her foot down hard on the gas pedal, her speedometer creeping up to

The centerpiece fountain of Hyrule was not in the middle of a road. In fact, one had to park and get out to walk up to it. Much of the area around it was open for walking or bike-riding only, with cobblestone-style paths and nice sunken gardens of hardy flowers.

Saria laid on her horn as she floored it over the slight step separating the sidewalk from the road. Her car shuddered and squeaked painfully as it hit the bump and made it over. She kept honking her horn, and people ran out of the way of her car.

She smashed into the side of the fountain, and some of the ancient bricks were pushed out of alignment. Her car gasped and died, and Saria swore; her engine block was hosed. Zelda jumped out, the sirens closer than she'd hoped, and she helped Link out as well.

"Saria? Are you okay?" she called.

"Yes, I'm fine!" Saria hopped out of the car. "I didn't have time to get anything in your car."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." She turned to Link and took his hands, closing her eyes. Link looked up at the strangely green Triforce at the top of the fountain, and let his eyes go out of focus. With a flood of relief, he could feel a memory nipping at the edges of his subconscious. He brought up the fountain, the way it looked as he knew it with the Triforce still coppery and bright and new. He remembered the day it was installed, even. Still, the memory persisted, and a headache was coming on at the back of his head. He gripped Zelda's hands tight.

Zelda could also feel her own memory welling up inside of her. She felt the same symptoms at Link, and slowly her hearing started to muffle. The far-off sirens became bird calls, and she could hear the murmur of townspeople overriding the sound of cars. "Remember," she whispered, gripping Link tight.

He was almost there, this much he knew. The bright sunny day was becoming unbearable on top of his headache, and he was blinded with white light. Zelda's nails were digging into his hands and later he would find bruises, but for now he pulled away from the memory as best he could, reminding himself over and over again of who he truly was.

Saria wanted to scream as the cop cars parked in a half-circle around the fountain square, but she could see their figures fading and flickering, and she would not interrupt them now. She bit into one knuckle until it broke the skin, clutching at herself.

Zelda gasped.

Link cried out.

They vanished.

All went white.


	9. Dance

For a long time, there was nothing. There was just the endless floating, two masses of atoms floating along and intermingling, spreading out slowly to fill that space between stars.

But in that great expanse of nothing, there was sudden light, and a brilliant form in a glowing golden sphere split into three, then grew into columns. From the rightmost column stepped Nayru, her hair rolling over her shoulders like a wave, her eyes wide and brilliant blue, her skin the faintest pink under alabaster. From the leftmost column came Farore, her skin a brilliant yellowish gold, her eyes narrow and sparking emerald, and her hair sticking up from her head like wild blades of grass. Din stepped from the third column, her hair licking up and trailing behind her like a tongue of flame, her eyes tilted up, almond-shaped and a deep, deep coppery red, her skin dark olive-gold.

Together, the three goddesses raised their left hands, then each of them went into different hand movements. Nayru swept and rolled her hand. Farore made sharp, cutting movements. Din held hers straightforward, and when her sisters finished, she drew her hand from right to left across the two forms that had been slowly rebuilt before them.

**WAKE UP,** the three of them commanded aloud.

Link opened his eyes; or was it that he could now see? He stared directly ahead at the goddesses, and he knew that somewhere to his right was Zelda, floating as aimlessly as he.

**OUR CHILDREN,** the three said in unison, warming smiles coming across their faces.

Zelda felt tears rolling down her face at the sight of them. They were incredibly beautiful. Tears were also dripping off Link's chin.

Din stepped forward and nodded to both of them.

**YOU HAVE QUESTIONS.**

"Yes," they said together.

**WE CAN ANSWER.**

"Thank You."

Din bowed her head, her eyes closed.

**WHEN WE CREATED THE UNIVERSE, THERE WERE SOME… WRINKLES. PLACES WHERE THE LAYERS DIDN'T QUITE MESH. THAT CAVE WAS ONE SUCH PLACE.**

A brief pause.

**WE DID NOT INTEND FOR IT TO BE USED; YOUR DISCOVERY WAS AN ACCIDENT. WE WERE WATCHING YOU BOTH, EVEN IF YOU DID NOT FEEL OUR PRESENCE. EACH NEW MEMORY WAS THE WILL OF THE UNIVERSE PRESSING ITSELF UPON YOU, MAKING YOU FIT. WE ARE GLAD YOU FIGURED OUT TO REPRESS THE MEMORIES. YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO FIT THERE. BY DENYING IT, THE UNIVERSE HAD ONLY ONE CHOICE; TO DESTROY YOU BOTH, BY CASTING YOU OUT.**

She smiled at them, though Link idly wondered how one could smile while discussing being erased by a universe.

**WE WERE NOT PERMITTED TO SIMPLY PLUCK YOU FROM THE LAND. PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU, DAUGHTER, WERE SO DEEPLY ROOTED IN ITS PRESENCE. DO NOT APOLOGIZE, **she added, cutting Zelda off before she even opened her mouth.

"Where—"Link started.

**THE SACRED REALM.**

"Of course."

**AND NOW, HERE YOU ARE, REBORN. WE WILL SEND YOU TO WHERE YOU ARE NEEDED, TO BALANCE OUT OUR FIRST SON. YOUR TRUE TIME. THESE ARE FIGURATIVE TERMS, NOT LITERAL,** **SECOND SON**, she said suddenly, looking at Link. Even fairly immaterial, he managed to look embarrassed.

"What about the mark we left on that universe?" Zelda asked.

**THEY ARE BEING UNDONE AS WE SPEAK. YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR OTHER SELVES, EVERYONE YOU INTERACTED WITH, WILL REMEMBER NOTHING OF THE CONVERSATIONS THAT WERE HAD. THEY WILL NOT EVEN REMEMBER YOU BEING HERE.**

"Will we remember?"

**FOR A TIME. EVENTUALLY YOU WILL NOT; YOUR UNIVERSE WILL TAKE YOU BACK INTO ITS FOLD. **

"My… I had things that I wanted given to…"

**AS WE SAID. THE PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER NOTHING OF YOU. IT IS BETTER THIS WAY FOR THEM.**

Din sighed heavily.

**WE MUST SEND YOU HOME, OUR CHILDREN. BEFORE YOU BECOME ONE WITH THIS, THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS. **

Din waved her hands forward. Nayru approached Zelda, and Farore approached Link.

**AND PLEASE… **Din added. **TAKE CARE OF OUR FIRST SON.** She smiled again.

Farore and Nayru both took deep breaths, and leaned forward. They placed their mouths over Link and Zelda's, blowing the warm wind into their sigil-holder's mouth. Link felt an incredible heat overtaking him, spreading from his chest outwards, and when it reached the tips of his fingers and toes he felt an incredible weight. His arms were wrenched backwards suddenly, painfully, and, in something he hoped would not become habitual, all went black.

Link crashed into the hard ground of the cave, his arms pinned painfully under his body. After barely a second, Zelda fell on top of him, knocking the wind from both of them in a little cloud of steam. The cloud floated up, and when it brushed against the roof of the cave, it crumbled inward, falling onto them in dust and dirt. Link hacked and coughed when some got in his mouth, and Zelda carefully rolled off him, sitting up.

"Your Majesty!" shouted one of the quicker-witted soldiers. The little troupe ran to their queen, stopping a few feet short when they saw the conservative suit that she was still wearing, because it was unlike anything they'd ever seen.

"Your… Majesty?"

Zelda slowly stood, dusting herself off and taking in small gasps of air. Link followed her in standing, and reached into one of his belt pouches. He smiled a little when he found he now had access to the myriad of items.

Zelda looked round at the soldiers and nodded. "I'm surprised there's still so many of you here. Is everything alright at the castle? Has anyone gone to the king and queen of Rilchek and given them my apologies?"

"No, Your Majesty. We were waiting for your return."

"Well, then. Quick. One of you ride on and let them know that I will meet with them at another time of their choosing, and give them my sincerest apologies. For now, I wish to return home."

She climbed up into her carriage with some assistance. Link went to Epona, who sniffed him curiously but permitted him to climb up.

"How long have I been gone?" he asked one of the soldiers in a low voice.

"Only an hour or two, Sir."

"You're kidding."

"No, Sir."

They rode back to Hyrule in silence.

When they arrived at the castle, Zelda ignored the blatant stares at her costume. For Link, it was a little harder; he didn't have any power to order people beheaded for impertinence.

At first they tried to challenge her, the guards not exactly getting in her way but edging close to her, and the dukes left in charge in her absence stopping her to ask her what had happened. Zelda had been through a great deal of stress; traveling between universes, being destroyed and rebuilt, took a great deal out of a person.

"I wish to not talk about it at this moment. Please take me to my rooms," she ordered. Her Ladies-in-Waiting rushed forward and accompanied her to her chambers, using it as an excuse to carefully study her clothes.

A week or so later, similar styling began to crop up in women's fashion. Not so bold as to yet wear breeches as Her Majesty had done, they consisted of overdresses in all manners of fabrics, usually crisp, bright taffetas, with lapels around the neckline and held closed in the front by either ribbons or hooks. The long trailing skirt from the waist of the dress split open in the front over underskirts in sober colors, pleated in narrow knife pleats all the way around. The shoulders went out, sleeves tightened to the wrist, and the hip of the skirt came in closer, trailing along the body to create a sleek silhouette.

Link was also badgered, for a time, by the other soldiers, who wanted to know where he got his fancy duds. He would just shrug and not answer, and soon even he didn't know. Eventually, both his and Zelda's futuristic clothes were forgotten, and thrown out.

Saria was having a shit day. She'd discovered that a few weeks ago, she'd withdrawn almost $300 from her checking account that she could not find any trace of, besides a money order made out to the County Clerk's office at the jail. But when she called to ask them who the hell she'd paid to have taken out of court, they could not say. She had also apparently fallen asleep while driving and hit the fountain, and the city was trying to seek reparations. But she couldn't place why anything had happened. There was also a bag of men's clothing from one of the upscale boutiques nearby in a bag with a receipt, and she planned to return it at first opportunity, but what the hell was it doing there? It was like she'd been sleeping and woke up to find the house had been broken into, but who broke in to leave stuff?

She finally had a day off from classes and work, and she was working on getting off the couch to do all the errands she had to take care of, but she couldn't find any reason to, until her buzzer went off. She groaned and rolled over, curling up. More problems coming after her, and her rent was due soon, too. The buzzer went off again, and she swore and got up, going and pressing the call button.

"Who is it?" she shouted down.

"It's… Dr. Ivanova. I have some papers for a Saria Greenleaf. Can I come in?"

Saria was puzzled. She'd never met a Dr. Ivanova. She made sure her door was locked and hesitantly called back.

"What kind of papers?"

"Um, a sublease agreement, bank account information, a transfer of title for a car…"

Saria waited a few minutes. "Are you messing with me?"

"No, I am not. Please let me up."

Saria sighed and admitted her.

Impa knocked on the door ten minutes later, while Saria was brushing her hair. When she opened the door, she also saw a cop holding a parcel, and she immediately started to shut the door again. Impa shoved her boot between the door and its frame.

"He followed me up, you're not in trouble."

Saria hesitated, then slowly admitted them. Impa cleared her throat. "I received an interesting email yesterday, from a woman named Zelda who claimed she knew you."

"I know a Zelda, but she lives in Termina."

Impa was holding a manila folder, and Saria went to sit back down on the couch.

"Her email indicated I was to bring this stack of papers over to you in the event of her disappearance."

"What? Zelda's fine, I just talked to her last night."

"I talked to her this morning. She claims she has no idea what this is about. She hasn't lived in Termina for years. I also talked to the landlord this sublease form comes from; he claims that the apartment doesn't seem to have been occupied for six months, so he handed over a regular lease application in case you are interested in moving."

Saria took the form and paled. "I can't afford to live here."

"You might be surprised. These bank titles transfer all her funds to you. She named you as a benefactor." She handed over the new forms, and Saria screamed a little bit, her hand over her mouth as she boggled at the numbers on paper.

"And the transfer of title…" Impa muttered, handing over the car information.

"Oh come on, I can't afford to insure this thing beyond PLPD!" But she stopped and looked again at the bank accounts, and though her current situation would make it very tricky, if she saved carefully and maintained careful driving habits she would probably be able to afford it. After eight years.

She looked at the officer then, suddenly. "What can I do for you?"

"We had an item to return from Evidence."

"What?" she said in confusion.

The officer shrugged. "The owner of the item claimed he lived here. Link Nobel?"

"Link hasn't lived here in years," she said immediately.

"Well that's the address we had, so here." The officer held out the towel-wrapped parcel, and Saria stared at the sword that fell into her lap.

"The fuck?" she muttered in confusion.

"I just return the items, I don't know."

Saria looked over the papers again, then around at her tiny apartment, in its terrible neighborhood.

A few weeks later, Saria broke her lease, and moved into her new apartment, with Ruto and Denno's help.

When they first walked in, she was confused to see signs of someone having recently been there; the unmade bed with dirty sheets (she immediately threw them in the wash), and a closet full of clean clothes. There was a laptop on a table in the corner, along with neatly stacked law books and notes written in Zelda's hand, but not quite right.

There was also a bag and a box on the couch; the bag was from her lab, which gave her a start, and had a chainmail tunic, a wool shirt, breeches, and some solid gold pins (she tested their softness). The box had a heavy, handsewn cloak and a beautiful green dress with handmade embroidery. Ruto wrinkled her nose when she saw the dress. "Ugh, it's so Medieval. Gag." However, she went crazy over the closet; Saria reluctantly agreed to give her all the clothes that fit and donate the rest.

She piled up the box and bag of clothes with the sword on a table, looking around at the tasteful furniture, the huge television. She instantly felt stupid for renting the moving truck to bring over her dilapidated stuff, and decided she would donate everything in there as well.

"Pretty nice digs for having not been lived in for six months," muttered Ruto.

"There's even food in the fridge. It all looks fine," Denno called from the kitchen.

Saria was immensely puzzled, but she decided to accept it as the universe throwing her a bone after the hell she'd been through.

They moved in her clothes and books and a few other items and knick-knacks, but she discovered that most of her items were unnecessary.

Unfortunately, the car was impounded. She paid for it to be released, glad she managed to narrowly make it before auction, though it savaged her accounts.

She returned to her apartments and looked at the strange items from another time sitting innocuously on the table. She stood, then, and went to the laptop, opening it up. It was already connected wirelessly, and she immediately started a search; for appraisals and selling of historical items.

Three months went by.

Zelda eventually made it to Rilchek to see the king and queen there. She stayed for a week so that she could learn more about their son, a 20 year old named Arton. After that time, she made her offer, and she brought him back to Hyrule to begin the wedding preparations.

Now and again though, she would stop to say something or ask for something, and she would stop short. It was as if she had a special yearning but she couldn't remember what for.

There was a day where she was preparing for an engagement dinner, and one of the maids was digging into the closet, and she pulled out the pantsuit that had not yet been disposed of.

"My lady, what is…?" She offered the odd item to Zelda, who took it in her lap and looked it over in confusion. In one pocket was a slim, hard object, and a long plasticy string splitting off into two knobs.

"I have no idea," she said. Nonetheless, she offered the garments to the girl, but held onto the strange object.

She put it in a drawer in her dresser, and did not come across it again until the wedding celebration some time later. She had been looking for a pair of earrings, but now she stopped, holding the object in her hand and running a finger over the glass screen, then pressing in the little depression at the bottom. It came to life, and she felt a brief jolt of familiarity. A little frightened by this, she looked it over and figured out how to turn it off. She tucked it into one of the hidden pockets in her dress and headed back down to the party.

Arton was a good man, she'd discovered so far. He had dark hair and eyes, and was a little young, but he had a youthful charm that she found refreshing, and their senses of humor got on very well. He was a little intimidated by her country's ways yet, though, so she still got to do much of the actual ruling, she just needed his signature as well. She met up with him at the main entrance to the great hall where the celebration was already underway, and he offered her his arm with a smile.

"Are you ready, my queen?" he asked in his low tone of voice.

"Of course." She smiled kindly at him, and they entered together, the people bowing at the announcement of their rulers.

Arton and Zelda bowed in response, and her eyes swept over her subjects, then at the few guards stationed around the room, briefly landing on Link; he was resplendent in newly-polished armor, his face stern as he stood nearest to the throne, the place of highest esteem, and just behind the wide wedding party's table.

The king and queen walked through the hall and sat down at their table to thunderous applause. Zelda squeezed Arton's arm and they smiled at each other as they took their seats, Link pulling out Zelda's chair and pushing her back in. She smiled at him, then turned to face her people, who were still applauding.

The food was delicious and in great quantities; a roast pig, roast venison, geese and pea hens. Fresh caught bass with the skin still on, crisped up from roasting and salt. Roasted potatos, carrots, onions, and asparagus, fresh-baked biscuits and loaves of bread, platters of puddings, barrels of aged brandy and rum, and gallons of wine, both white and red. There was also an elegant, five tier wedding cake on display to one side, decorated with candied fruits and marzipan flowers. And Zelda had ensured that whatever was left over would go to the poorhouses, divided by their need and occupancy.

Arton found that an admirable trait in his new wife. In his limited life as a prince, he'd known many people who said they would do as such when they had the money and means to (usually after their marriage to a higher-titled person), but rarely did they follow through. And though his responsibilities were more limited to hunting and occasionally attending events on behalf of his country, it still rubbed him the wrong way when he saw all the waste.

"I am impressed to see how deeply you truly care for all of your people, my lady," he said in her ear at the table as they ate their first meal as husband and wife.

Zelda smiled at him, taking her time over a sliced duck. "Well, shouldn't everyone? After all, the farmers have so many excellent weapons at their disposal, who wouldn't befriend them?" She laughed a little to show she was joking, then continued. "But to be honest here; they are every bit as much my people as everyone in this room. Why shouldn't I take care of them equally?"

After that, there was the cake cutting ceremony, and then began the true meat of the celebration, the dancing. There was the first formal dance as husband and wife, and they forewent the dance of the parents, as Zelda's were gone. After that they opened up the floor to all, and after some hours of laughing, spinning, and greeting her subjects on the floor, Zelda pleaded fresh air and, taking a glass of cold white wine, went out to the balcony. She nodded to the guard standing there, keeping watch over the town, and stood at the edge to take a sip.

"It's a little cold out tonight, isn't it?" she asked him, feeling a little awkward with just the two of them out there in silence.

"I find it quite tolerable," he replied. Zelda nodded.

"Well, you are wearing all that armor."

He turned and looked at her with a nod, and she gasped in surprise.

"Oh! Link! You should have said it was you."

"I thought you knew."

"Oh, no. Goddesses." She smiled at him, and looked back towards the sky with her drink.

"So…" she started. He looked at her again, and she frowned a little bit.

"I… do you still remember, a few months back? A little bit?"

"Somewhat," he confirmed.

Zelda set her glass down on the balcony railing and reached into her hidden skirt pocket, pulling out the slim object. "I found this… in my quarters. It must have come with us."

"Oh?" he approached her, keeping a respectful three or so feet away.

"Yes. I'm not… I mean, I think I know what it is, but…"

She stared at it in her hands, then looked to him.

"Do you miss it at all? Being there and being…" Her throat locked up.

Link sighed and stepped back a little. He did miss it, and he missed her like mad. Their brief time together had only made their slow parting, through fading memories and minimal interaction that much more painful. And now with her wedding, he knew he would never have a chance with her in any capacity again.

"We are meant to be here, and it is something we should accept," he replied.

She nodded and looked down again at the metal and glass item. Impulsively, she reached up and plugged one of the earbuds into his ear, then the other into her own.

"Your Majesty?"

She turned the device on and smiled a little; it didn't have much battery left.

"One song," she said, "then, if I remember right, you'd promised to dance with me."

She turned the volume up a little on the MP3 player, and pressed 'play'.

They edged a little bit closer to each other, and looked out at the stars.

-end-


End file.
